West Asia conflict | 10 kg LPG in a 14-kg cylinder soon? Reports claim proposal before govt; Oil Ministry says 'highly speculative'

Addressing the claims around supply, Sharma said, 'About 3.5 lakh domestic and commercial PNG connections have been given or activated in the last three weeks.'

Even as the claims of oil marketing companies resorting to delivering underweight cylinders for increasing accessibility of cooking gas were dismissed by the Oil Ministry on Tuesday, recent reports suggest that such a proposal was brought forward, and remains pending before the government.

A recent report in The Times of India citing refiners said that a proposal was before the government, however, no decision has been taken yet.

Dismissing reports of refiners considering to supply 10 kg of LPG in 14.2-kg cylinders in an aim to conserve the limited stock amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary (Marketing & Oil Refinery), Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas stated the move as "highly speculative. "

"This is highly speculative, and there cannot be any comment or explanation to any speculation. Don't believe rumours," the ministry said during a press briefing.

Further addressing the claims around supply, Sharma informed, "About 3.5 lakh domestic and commercial PNG connections have been given or activated in the last three weeks. The supply of LPG still remains a matter of concern, but there is no dry out at the LPG distributorships. Panic booking of LPG has reduced, and delivery is normal."

"Regarding commercial LPG, now about 50 per cent volume of commercial LPG will be at the disposal of the state governments and the union territories. The Government of India has requested the state governments to include restaurants, dhabas, hotels, industrial canteens, food processing, dairy units, subsidised canteens or outlets run by state government or local bodies for food, community kitchens and five kg FTL for migrant labour in this allocation," she further answered the reporters about the government's measures around the conflict.

"Till now, about 20 states and union territories have allocated commercial LPG, and about 15 thousand 800 tonnes of commercial LPG have been uplifted," she said.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the LPG crisis in the Lok Sabha. He said the government is prioritising domestic use of LPG. "It has been our focus to ensure that the public faces the least hardships, due to LPG supply disruption," he said.

"60 per cent of LPG is imported into India; government is giving priority to domestic use and increasing production," he added.