India’s LPG consumption slides 13% amid West Asia conflict:Commercial cylinder sales down 48% YoY in March

India saw a big yearly drop in the amount of cooking gas (LPG) used in March 2026, with consumption falling by 13% year-on-year. This decrease happened because problems in West Asia disrupted the supply of gas to the country. These disruptions affected both homes and businesses that rely on LPG. Official numbers show that India used 2.379 million tonnes of LPG in March, which is significantly less than the 2.729 million tonnes used during the same time last year. India imports a large portion (around 60%) of its LPG, with much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz. This critical shipping route was effectively closed due to recent conflicts involving the US, Israel, and Iran. This closure meant that India received lower gas from key suppliers like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. To ensure that households had enough cooking gas, the Central Government decided to reduce the amount of LPG available to businesses like hotels and industries. Data from the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) reveals that sales of LPG cylinders to homes decreased by 8.1% in March, totaling 2.219 million tonnes. The drop was even more significant for businesses, with a decrease of almost 48%. Bulk sales of LPG fell dramatically by 75.5%. Interestingly, these figures contradict earlier government statements that LPG supplies were normal and that all household needs were being met. To tackle the shortage, the government instructed refineries to shift their focus from producing petrochemicals to producing more LPG. This move increased domestic LPG production to 1.4 million tonnes in March, up from 1.1 million tonnes the previous year. Thanks to this effort, the total LPG production for the fiscal year 2025-26 (April 2025 to March 2026) rose to 13.1 million tonnes, slightly higher than the 12.8 million tonnes produced in each of the previous two years. Despite the challenges in March, overall LPG consumption for the entire fiscal year ending in March 2026 increased by 6%, reaching 33.212 million tonnes. The use of LPG has been steadily growing in India as the government encourages people to switch from firewood and other polluting fuels to cleaner options. The conflict also impacted the use of jet fuel (ATF), which saw almost no growth in March due to airspace closures and flight suspensions in many Gulf countries. Consumption was at 807,000 tonnes in March compared to 801,000 tonnes a year prior. In contrast, sales of petrol and diesel increased significantly. Petrol sales rose by 7.6% to 3.78 million tonnes, while diesel consumption increased by 8.1% to 8.727 million tonnes. For the entire fiscal year, ATF sales increased by 2% to 9.161 million tonnes, petrol consumption rose by 6.5% to 42.586 million tonnes, and diesel consumption increased by 3.6% to 94.705 million tonnes.