Guwahati, Mar 11: PSU Indian Oil Corp, which supplies LPG cylinders to almost 85 per cent of the entire Northeast market, on Wednesday said it has enough stock to provide the cooking fuel in the region during the coming period on the backdrop of the war in West Asia.
A senior official of the IOC said that all its nine bottling plants in the Northeast are producing LPG cylinders at their maximum capacities and distributing the same as per the government’s directives.
“As of now, there is no gap between demand and supply for the LPG cylinders. All cylinders are being supplied as per the restrictions of the central government,” she added.
The official also said that the IOC gets the input stock for producing LPG cylinders from four Assam-based refineries, which receive a considerable amount of crude and LNG from local oil wells.
“So, the production of LPG will never stop in the Northeast. However, the output capacity may drop in the long term if the crisis continues,” she added.
LPG production, CNG, and piped cooking gas will take precedence over all other sectors using natural gas as the government rejigged allocation to ensure uninterrupted supply for households and transport sectors.
As the widening West Asia conflict disrupted 30 per cent of India’s gas supply, the Oil Ministry, in a gazette notification, ordered available gas to be diverted from non-priority sectors to key users.
Besides, a panel of senior executives from three PSU oil companies will review complaints of shortage of commercial LPG cylinders across the country and make fuel available to meet the genuine requirements of non-essential sectors like hotels and restaurants.
“There is a requirement of 1.91 lakh domestic cylinders every day of 14.2 kgs for the entire Northeast market. Of this, 1.34 lakh is consumed by Assam alone,” the IOC official said.
The IOC alone supplies 1.62 lakh domestic cylinders daily in the Northeast, including 1.06 lakh in Assam, she added.
“In the commercial segment of 19 kg cylinders, the NE market size is 5,777 units per day, including 4,112 units in Assam. IOC supplies 4,106 units to NE, of which 2,544 units are sold in Assam,” the official said.
The company official said that with effect from March 10, all commercial supplies have stopped, except hospitals and educational institutions, as per the government order.
While maintaining that the country has adequate fuel stocks, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on March 9 directed refineries to maximise LPG output by curtailing petrochemical streams and extended the LPG refill booking cycle to 25 days from 21 days.
“In light of current geopolitical disruptions to fuel supply and constraints on supply of LPG, the ministry has issued orders to oil refineries for higher LPG production and using such extra production for domestic LPG use,” the ministry said in the post on X.
“The ministry has prioritised domestic LPG supply to households and introduced a 25-day inter-booking period to avoid hoarding/black marketing.” Non-domestic supplies from imported LPG are being prioritised to essential non-domestic sectors such as hospitals and educational institutions, it said. (Agencies)
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