India halts new LPG connections amid West Asia war; no timeline for restart

India, the world’s second-largest importer of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), meets nearly 65% of its annual demand of 33 million tonnes through imports, about 90% of which is sourced from West Asia. With uncertainty around the Strait—which carries a fifth of global energy supplies—persisting, there is no clear timeline for resumption of new connections.

“Regarding new connections, we are not doing it right now,” Sujata Sharma, joint secretary at the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, said at a press briefing on Wednesday, in response to a question regarding the halt and a timeline for resumption of new connections.

“There have been no new connections; it has been put on hold as the government has prioritized supplies to existing domestic consumers,” a Delhi-based LPG distributor said on condition of anonymity, adding that while OMCs have not given any official directive to distributors, the online application system is not accepting new connection requests.

According to updates by the petroleum ministry’s e-Seva grievance redressal platform on social media, this is a temporary issue and new connections would resume once the situation stabilizes.

To be sure, LPG demand—used by nearly 340 million households—has been capped since the war began, with mandatory booking intervals of 25 days in urban areas and 45 days in rural areas limiting consumption.

In response to a complaint on X by a consumer seeking a new LPG connection, the X handle of state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL)’s LPG brand BharatGas on Tuesday said, “Due to the prevailing geopolitical situation, issuance of new LPG connections is temporarily on hold. At present, distributors are prioritizing efficient refill supplies for existing consumers to ensure uninterrupted essential services. Any inconvenience caused, is purely due to reasons which are beyond our control.”

Noting that LPG supply continues to be affected by the prevailing geopolitical situation, the petroleum ministry in a statement on Wednesday said “supply of LPG to domestic households has been prioritized. No dry-outs have been reported at LPG distributorships.”

Queries emailed to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, BPCL, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd remained unanswered till press time.

Jagdish Raj, president of Uttar Pradesh Circle of the All-India LPG Distribution Federation said, “Even registration has been put on hold. But in some instances, like in the case of HPCL, registration has started recently, but delivery of canisters has not resumed. Further, sale of cylinders on the second connection of a household also is currently on hold.” He added that the panic buying witnessed a few weeks ago has now calmed.

The government is also taking measures to ensure that LPG users in the vicinity of city gas distribution networks switch to piped natural gas (PNG). According to the government, after the war started in late February, more than 40,600 households who already have an installed PNG connection have surrendered their LPG connection as of 21 April through MYPNGD.in website.

With the rapid expansion of LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), the ongoing supply disruption, and the steady expansion of PNG networks, experts expect LPG demand to approach saturation in the coming years.

“The PMUY scheme and the incentives provided under it help in higher adoption of LPG. Right now, several LPG consumers are shifting to PNG,” said Prashant Vasisht, senior vice president and co-group head, corporate ratings, Icra Ltd. He added that about 30 million LPG connections may shift to PNG by 2030.

Amid the supply constraints, curtailment of supplies to commercial and industrial users and restricted booking period for households, the LPG consumption in the country fell over 15.7% to 2.38 million tonne from 2.82 million tonne, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed.

According to the PPAC, India had a total of 25,584 LPG distributors of public sector OMCs as of 1 October 2025, including 7,927 urban distributors, another 3,784 distributors which are located in urban areas but serve rural customers, about 11,824 rural distributors, and 2,049 distributors in remote areas.