LPG Crunch: Govt Clears Biomass, Coal and Kerosene Use to Reduce LPG Demand Pressure

The Union government has temporarily cleared commercial use of alternative fuels such as kerosene, coal and biomass, as India manages LPG supply stress linked to the West Asia conflict. Officials state that domestic LPG output is rising and retail stocks remain available, but extra steps are underway to protect household access.

These decisions follow reports from several states of tight LPG availability as attacks in the region hit key shipping routes. The conflict has affected energy cargo movement through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that usually carries almost 20 percent of global crude and about half of India’s energy imports.

LPG supply and alternative fuels decision

Compared with LPG, which burns relatively cleanly, kerosene, coal and many biomass options release more pollutants and harm air quality. Despite this, the environment ministry has eased rules for a fixed period so that hotels and restaurants can switch fuels, aiming to free more LPG supply for households during the present disruption.

"The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India (MoEFCC) has advised State Pollution Control Boards to permit, for the duration of this crisis period, the use of biomass, RDF pellets, and kerosene/coal as alternate fuels for the hospitality and restaurant segment for a period of one month," Sujata Sharma, joint secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said at an inter-ministerial briefing on India's energy situation.

LPG supply, kerosene allocation and coal support

At the same briefing, which included senior officials from the petroleum, shipping, external affairs, and information and broadcasting ministries, Sharma described parallel moves on kerosene and coal. These steps are designed to support small businesses and lower LPG demand from commercial users while the conflict limits international supplies.

On kerosene, Sharma said the Centre already allots almost 1 lakh kilo litre every quarter to states. The Centre has now ordered an additional 48,000 kilo litres for state governments. Sharma stressed that state administrations must now identify genuine beneficiaries and supervise distribution, so the extra kerosene reaches intended users.

LPG supply, coal distribution and production data

Sharma also told reporters that the coal ministry has instructed Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company to increase coal allotments to states. The aim is to strengthen deliveries to small and medium enterprises and other consumers that might otherwise depend more on LPG supply during the crisis period.

According to Sharma, coordination between fuel retailers and states has been tightened. "The senior officials of oil marketing companies are in touch with all the state governments and they have been directed to brief the state government on daily basis on supply situation, priority sequence and enforcement framework."

Officials reported that domestic LPG production has grown compared with the previous day’s levels. Sharma said, "Yesterday (Wednesday) there was a 25 percent growth in production, now it is 28 percent of our domestic LPG production." The increase is expected to ease pressure on LPG supply chains serving homes.

Government representatives insisted that LPG supply to households remains steady. They pointed to India’s fuel retail network to support this claim. "We have a very vast network of retail outlets, almost 1 lakh retail outlets are operating in the country and majority of these are with public sector oil marketing companies and no dry out has been reported on any of these retail outlets."

Key figures linked to LPG supply, kerosene and the wider conflict are shown below.

The conflict context also carries a human cost for Indian seafarers. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal briefed media about an attack on the Marshal Island-flagged oil tanker Safesea Vishnu near Khor Al Zubair port, which involved several Indian crew members working on the vessel.

"There were overall 28 crew members of which 16 were Indian nationals, but we lost one. Fifteen Indian nationals have been rescued and taken to Basrah…our embassy in Baghdad is in touch with them and is offering all assistance to the remaining 15 people," he added.

The tanker incident came as Thursday marked 13 days since the United States and Israel first launched strikes on Iran. The fighting has slowed or halted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, intensifying the global energy crunch that provides the backdrop to India’s current LPG supply safeguards and temporary fuel relaxations.