New Delhi, May 18: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Monday said that adequate stocks of petrol, diesel, LPG and natural gas are available across the country and there is no need for panic,
Addressing media, Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma as per Kashmir Convener said the government has urged people to avoid panic buying and purchase fuel only as required, asserting that every effort is being made to ensure timely delivery of all essential fuels.
She also encouraged citizens to adopt alternative cooking fuels such as PNG, induction and electric cooktops.
Acknowledging the impact of the ongoing West Asia crisis, Sharma said the situation in the Strait of Hormuz has remained abnormal for over two-and-a-half months, leading to high international prices of crude, natural gas and LPG.
“Our imports have been affected, but our refineries are operating normally and we have sufficient crude inventories. There is no dryout on any LPG distributorship or retail outlet,” she said.
However, the Joint Secretary noted that panic buying is being witnessed in many places due to rumours, and immediate action is being taken to replenish supplies at identified retail outlets.
On domestic cooking gas, she said supply is being ensured with no dry out on any distributor, though commercial LPG supply stands at 70 per cent.
Highlighting a shift towards PNG, she informed that approximately 7.37 lakh PNG connections have been gasified since March, while infrastructure has been created for 2.76 lakh more. Over 7.76 lakh consumers have registered for PNG connections, and more than 58,000 PNG consumers have surrendered their LPG connections till yesterday, she added.
In the last four days, approximately 1.72 lakh domestic LPG cylinders have been delivered against bookings of 1.69 crore requests, she said.
Commercial LPG sales from the start of this month stood at 1.08 lakh tonnes, with over 25,200 tonnes sold in the last four days. Additionally, 888 tonnes of auto LPG and more than 1.90 lakh cylinders of 5-kg capacity have been sold during the same period.
The Joint Secretary said public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) have been conducting awareness camps, selling over 2,200 cylinders in nearly 95 camps in the last four days.
On natural gas, she said urea plants are operating at 96 per cent of their requirement, while CGD entities have been enhanced by 80 per cent. GAIL and other suppliers are trying to meet any additional requirement from industry, power plants, textiles, pharma or commercial sectors.
Enforcement action is being carried out by state governments and OMC officials, with about 2,800 retail outlets and LPG distributors inspected by PSU OMCs in the last four days.
Sharma appealed to citizens to avoid panic buying and said the government is doing its best to ensure availability and delivery of petrol, diesel and LPG. She also urged people to save energy and use alternative cooking sources like PNG, induction and electric cook stoves.
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