NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said the government managed energy supply disruptions arising from the West Asia crisis by placing the minimum possible burden on citizens and significantly increasing domestic LPG production.
Speaking at the CII Annual Summit, Puri said India’s oil companies are losing nearly Rs 1,000 crore every day and under-recoveries are expected to touch Rs 1,98,000 crore.
He said the country currently has 60 days of crude reserves, 60 days of LNG supplies and 45 days of LPG stocks, adding that there is no shortage on the supply side.
“If you look at the fiscal situation, if you look at the fact that my oil companies are losing Rs 1,000 crores every day, the under recovery is going to be Rs 1,98,000 crores. The losses are Rs 1 lakh crore, if you look at the quarter. In that context, how long can you keep it like this? Where is the oil? It used to be around $64 or $65. It has gone up to $115 in that basket,” Puri said.
He said fuel prices have not been increased for the last four years and denied any link between elections and fuel pricing decisions.
“If I remember correctly, we haven’t raised prices for the last four years. We’re the only country in the world. Somebody said, ‘the elections are over, now the price will rise.’ 2022 was the last time we raised prices. There has been a general election in 2024, and there have been elections in the state government. It’s not that prices will not go up. I’m saying the two are unrelated,” he added.
Referring to the West Asia conflict, Puri said nearly 20 per cent of global energy supplies earlier passed through the Strait of Hormuz, from where India sourced a major share of its crude oil and LPG imports.
“Eighty five per cent of our imports of crude, a large percentage used to come from there. But more importantly, our LPG, the cylinder gas, which you use in kitchens, about 60% used to come from the Strait of Hormuz. Now we had to make arrangements. I’m amazed at what we were able to do. Our domestic production of LPG prior to the crisis was 35,000 or 36,000 metric tons per day. We ramped up our domestic production from 36,000 to 54,000 metric tons. This by itself is a mind-boggling thing,” he said.
The Union Minister said there had been no fuel shortages anywhere in the country despite the crisis and attempts by some people to spread rumours.
“Tell me any one country where prices have remained the same, and there has been no shortage anywhere in spite of the best efforts of some people to try to black market and raise false rumours. If I looked at some statistics, petrol consumption has gone up by 6%. In a crisis, there’d been no dry outs. Every petrol pump in the country has had petrol and diesel. LPG supply is more than enough. We have done some good things. We have ramped up LPG production. We brought consumption down a little,” he said.
Puri also urged citizens to follow suggestions made by Narendra Modi to reduce import dependence and adopt more sustainable lifestyles.
“I’m going to conclude this by saying we have 60 days of crude, which is the maximum we need. We have 60 days of LNG, and we have 45 days of LPG. So there’s no problem on the supply side. So why this panic since yesterday, or a day and a half? Please see what the Prime Minister has actually said, and let’s not put a bizarre construct on it. This is borne out by the facts,” he said.
“If you look at the news this morning, the leader of the largest economy in the world is saying that ‘ceasefire is on life support’… PM Modi says, the time has come for us to look at our lifestyle also, and I totally endorse that. It’s not that any lockdown is going to take place tomorrow,” he added.
