India is mounting a coordinated response to the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) supply crisis triggered by the West Asia conflict, with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) committing to maximise cooking gas output at its Jamnagar refining complex, alternative import supplies secured and expected to arrive shortly and domestic LPG production already up 10% since the government directed oil companies to ramp up output, even as the auto component industry flagged concerns about gas supply disruptions to small foundry and forging units.
In a statement, Reliance Industries says its teams at Jamnagar, the world's largest integrated refining hub, are working round the clock to optimise refinery operations and enhance LPG output. The company also confirmed that natural gas produced from its KG-D6 Basin fields in the Bay of Bengal would be diverted to priority sectors in line with government guidelines.
"At a time when global energy markets are experiencing volatility, ensuring uninterrupted access to essential fuels for Indian households remains a national priority," RIL says. "Reliance Industries is taking proactive steps and in line with the Government guidelines, to maximise LPG production from our refining and petrochemicals complexes at Jamnagar. Our teams are working round the clock to optimise refinery operations and enhance LPG output so that supplies to the domestic market remain stable and reliable."
"As always, Reliance will stand firmly with the nation in its time of need. In times of global uncertainty, we remain committed to doing everything possible to support India's energy security and ensure reliable access to essential fuels for the country," RIL added
The announcement from RIL came as the government confirmed that Indian refiners have collectively increased domestic LPG production by 10% since the directive to maximise cooking gas output was issued. Government officials also confirmed that LPG and LNG supplies secured from alternative locations, outside the disrupted Middle East supply chains, are expected to reach India shortly, offering partial relief to a market rattled by the near-halt of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the drone strike-forced shutdown of ADNOC's Ruwais refinery.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, sought to reassure citizens that the government had the situation under control. "We have taken steps to ensure that 100% supply of CNG and PNG to domestic consumers is ensured and other industries continue to get 70-80% of their supplies, despite the war situation," Mr Puri says. "We are committed to ensuring an uninterrupted supply of affordable energy to our domestic consumers."
The minister emphasised that India was actively diversifying its energy import sources beyond West Asia, and that supplies were continuing to reach the country through different routes despite the ongoing conflict. Domestic consumers of compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) would continue to receive full supplies, Puri confirmed, while industries were receiving around 70%-80% of their gas requirements.
The strategic significance of the Reliance commitment cannot be overstated. The Jamnagar complex in Gujarat, comprising two refineries with a combined crude processing capacity of around 1.24mnbpd (million barrels per day), is the single largest integrated refining and petrochemicals hub in the world. Its ability to produce LPG as a refinery output, independent of imported LPG supply chains, makes it a critical domestic buffer at a time when 85%-90% of India's imported LPG normally transits through the now-disrupted Strait of Hormuz.
Similarly, the diversion of KG-D6 gas production to priority sectors represents a meaningful domestic supply lever. The KG-D6 block, operated by RIL in partnership with BP, is one of India's largest producing gas fields. Redirecting its output toward household and essential sector use, rather than industrial or commercial applications, is likely to help partially compensate for the sharp fall in imported LNG availability that has followed Qatar's force majeure declaration and the Hormuz closure.
Auto Component-industry Seeks Relief
Even as the government and RIL moved to stabilise household and priority sector supplies, the auto component-industry flagged the collateral damage being inflicted on small and medium manufacturing units. The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) wrote to the Union ministry of heavy industries, warning that MSME foundry and forging units, which depend heavily on LPG and PNG as process fuels, are facing acute supply disruptions that threatened production continuity.
ACMA president Vikrampati Singhania says the auto component-industry remained deeply integrated with global automotive value chains and that timely support during the current period of geopolitical disruption would help ensure continuity of exports and preserve India's competitiveness in international markets. The Association sought either uninterrupted supply of LPG and PNG to small foundry and forging units, or a reasonable transition window to shift to alternate fuels, a request that reflects the practical difficulty faced by capital-constrained MSMEs in switching fuel sources at short notice.
The ACMA appeal highlights the tension at the heart of India's energy crisis response: every litre of LPG diverted to households is a litre unavailable to the industrial users who generate exports, employment, and economic output. Managing that trade-off equitably and without triggering a manufacturing slowdown on top of an energy shock will be one of the government's most delicate tasks in the weeks ahead.
India's energy crisis response is now operating on several simultaneous tracks: ramping up domestic refinery LPG production, diverting domestic gas fields to priority uses, securing alternative imports from non-Middle East sources, managing distributor-level confusion over government directives, and fielding urgent appeals from industries facing supply cuts.
The 10% rise in domestic LPG production and the imminent arrival of alternative import supplies are encouraging early signals. But with India consuming 31.3mt (million tonnes) of LPG annually, of which nearly 60% is imported, and 85%-90% of those imports normally sourced from Middle East suppliers reliant on the Strait of Hormuz, the scale of the supply gap that needs to be filled remains formidable.
