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U.S. LPG not a silver bullet for India; expand LPG Storage, cut freight costs: World Liquid Gas CEO

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:43:00 +0000

James Rockall, CEO and Managing Director of the global industry body World Liquid Gas Association (WLGA). Source: Special Arrangement.

India’s move to diversify its LPG procurement by sourcing more supplies from the U.S. may not be the silver bullet that helps it weather the current crisis, despite the U.S. being a major LPG producer and expanding its export terminal capacity, James Rockall, CEO and Managing Director of the World Liquid Gas Association (WLGA), told The Hindu.

Separately, he said India should also focus on expanding its LPG storage capacity and managing freight costs to further strengthen its position in the present global market.

Diversifying an imperative for India

Speaking in a broader context, Mr. Rockall emphasised that diversifying sources of LPG procurement was imperative for India to respond to the supply crisis in West Asia, with the U.S. emerging as an “obvious choice”.

India currently sources 67% of its LPG imports from the North American country, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Puri had said.

“The obvious choice was the United States because they are a big producer, a growing producer and are investing in their export terminals,” Mr. Rockall said.

However, he cautioned that the U.S. may not be the “silver bullet” that would help India tide over the crisis.

“It is not the magic solution that is going to lead you out of the crisis because India is not alone in trying to procure from the U.S. It already has a lot of its product tied up in term deals,” he said. “Getting access to that product in the short term is never going to be easy, but I have been very impressed with the way India has responded to this proactively.”

Mr. Rockall also pointed to other potential sources of LPG that India could explore, including Canada, Algeria, Argentina, Australia and West Africa.

Shipping and storage

The CEO of the industry association also said Indian refiners should actively manage freight costs to take advantage of lower free-on-board (FOB) prices when they arise.

“It is better for Indian companies to try to manage the freight costs actively than being a passive kind of recipient of what those costs are. [These could be either through] looking at short-term charters, working with shipping fleets, owning vessels or whatever,” he said. Such strategies, he added, “would allow Indian companies to capture the shipping economics themselves rather than leave them to suppliers and gives guarantee of availability.”

This would also help Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) avoid competing in the open freight market, where premiums have risen amid the West Asia-induced crisis.

Mr. Rockall also stressed the need for India to expand its LPG storage capacity to better manage market volatility.

In a separate context, the WLGA CEO said the global LPG market was expected to have “enough supplies”, although geopolitical headwinds had kept the market volatile.

“Perhaps one of the things that went wrong during the crisis was that India did not have a lot of buffer [for LPG] and the impact [of the crisis] was immediately cascaded to the end consumer,” he said.

“Having storage does not solve the problem but it gives you a little bit more time to fix the issues. I think greater storage is something India should look at to manage the volatility of the market,” Mr. Rockall said.

‘World regards India as an important LPG market’

“The world regards India as one of the most important markets — if not the most important market — in the world. I think what you have done with the Ujjwala [scheme] is an absolute standout demonstration,” he said.

Mr. Rockall also highlighted the strong political will behind the initiative and the robust demand dynamics, saying these factors have strengthened investor confidence in India’s LPG supply chain.

The WLGA will bring together leading industry leaders and professionals from across the global LPG value chain in Istanbul for Liquid Gas Week, taking place from October 12 to 16 this year.

Published – September 04, 2026 07:00 am IST

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Centre pushes States to speed up PNG adoption, seeks district-level officers to drive LPG-to-gas transition

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 07:55:00 +0000

The Petroleum Ministry has asked States and Union Territories to provide district-level administrative support to accelerate the shift of households from LPG to piped natural gas (PNG), seeking the appointment of nodal officers to coordinate with gas distributors and oil marketing companies.

In an August 21 letter to State Chief Secretaries, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal said PNG, as a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, has an important role in advancing India’s energy transition while reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution and improving consumer convenience.

“PNG brings a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, playing a critical role in advancing the country’s energy transition objectives. Its accelerated adoption contributes to reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution, enhancing consumer convenience, and improving utilisation of CGD infrastructure created through substantial public and private investment,” Mr. Mittal said in the letter.

The Ministry is seeking district-level intervention as it moves to implement a regulatory framework aimed at preventing households from retaining both LPG and PNG connections in areas where piped gas is available.

The push for faster adoption of gas piped to households for cooking purposes, called PNG, follows the disruption to India’s LPG supply chains during the West Asia crisis earlier this year. LPG was among the fuels most exposed to the conflict because India imports a large share of its cooking-gas requirement, with much of those supplies coming from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait and moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The disruption forced the government to prioritise domestic LPG supplies, with commercial and industrial consumers facing restrictions before supplies were progressively restored. India has since moved to diversify its LPG sourcing, including higher purchases from the U.S. and Algeria, as it seeks to reduce its exposure to disruptions in Middle Eastern supplies.

Piped natural gas, by contrast, proved considerably more resilient during the crisis, particularly for domestic household consumers.

Domestic PNG supplies received priority allocation of domestically produced natural gas, insulating the segment from much of the disruption that affected imported LPG and LNG cargoes.

While industrial and commercial gas users with greater dependence on imported LNG faced some exposure, domestic PNG and CNG supplies were expected to remain largely unaffected.

The experience has strengthened the case for expanding city-gas infrastructure and shifting households towards piped cooking fuel as part of a broader strategy to reduce India’s dependence on imported LPG and make the country’s energy system more resilient to geopolitical and shipping disruptions.

To promote faster PNG adoption, the government has notified the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution (Through Laying, Building, Operation and Expansion of Pipelines and Other Facilities) Orders of 2026 and LPG Control Orders under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

The orders prohibit households from retaining simultaneous LPG and PNG connections and provide for discontinuation of LPG supply to households that fail to apply for a PNG connection despite due notice, wherever PNG supply is available, Mittal said in the letter.

The Ministry has directed authorised city gas distribution (CGD) entities and public-sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) to establish a PNG Coordination Committee (PCC) in every geographical area.

The committees will identify eligible housing societies and households, issue statutory notices to housing societies, resident welfare associations and individual consumers, and conduct outreach camps to accelerate PNG connections.

The ministry said the PCC mechanism is already operational but its experience so far shows that district-level administrative support is crucial for implementing the transition within prescribed timelines.

The district administration will be expected to help secure right of way or right of use from RWAs and housing societies, facilitate the transition between LPG distributors and CGD entities, support consumer outreach and verification, and resolve consumer grievances.

It will also monitor PNG adoption in notified areas and, where required, enable designated officers to exercise powers under the control orders when access to non-public areas is refused.

The Ministry said officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies are best placed to provide this support because of their existing regulatory interface with LPG distributors and their field-level administrative reach.

Mr. Mittal has, therefore, asked Chief Secretaries to direct their respective food and civil supplies departments to nominate one nodal officer at the district level, not below the rank of district supply officer, to be formally associated with the local PCC.

States and Union Territories have also been asked to provide the names, designations and contact details of the nominated officers at the earliest so that PCC members can coordinate with them and expedite PNG expansion.

The Ministry asked states to accord priority to the matter, citing the government’s commitment to expanding PNG adoption in a time-bound manner.

The push comes as India seeks to expand its city gas distribution network and shift more household cooking demand towards piped natural gas, potentially reducing the need to transport LPG cylinders over long distances and making greater use of infrastructure created through public and private investment.

Published – August 23, 2026 01:25 pm IST

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