New Delhi: In a first, India has opened its huge LPG market to the US. This is a major step towards strengthening India’s energy security, the government has said.
Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Monday that Indian public sector oil companies have, for the first time, signed a one-year deal to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States.
He called it a “historic first” for the country’s LPG market, in the government’s endeavour to provide secure, affordable supplies of LPG to the people of the country.
“A historic first! One of the largest and the world’s fastest-growing LPG market opens up to the United States. In our endeavour to provide secure, affordable supplies of LPG to the people of India, we have been diversifying our LPG sourcing. In a significant development, Indian PSU oil companies have successfully concluded a 1-year deal for imports of around 2.2 MTPA LPG,” Puri posted on X.
The minister said that the new agreement marks a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to diversify its LPG sourcing, highlighting India’s position as one of the largest and the fastest-growing LPG markets in the world.
The Indian PSU companies have concluded a contract to import around 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LPG for the contract year 2026, he added. This represents nearly 10% of India’s annual LPG imports and will be sourced from the US Gulf Coast. Puri noted that this will be the first structured long-term contract involving US LPG for the Indian market.
The minister explained that the purchase has been benchmarked to Mount Belvieu, a key pricing point for global LPG trade, adding that teams from Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) were in the US recently to hold discussions with major American producers, which have now been successfully concluded.
Puri also said that the government is committed to ensuring affordable LPG for Indian households, particularly to women benefitting from the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
Even as global LPG prices surged by more than 60 per cent last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured that Ujjwala consumers continued to pay only Rs 500-550 per cylinder, against an actual cost of over Rs 1,100, he said.
According to the minister, the Government of India absorbed a burden of over Rs 40,000 crore during the year to shield consumers from international price shocks. The new deal reinforces the government’s ongoing efforts to secure reliable and affordable energy supplies for the people of the country, he added.
