Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Journalism of Courage
Premium
The supply and the demand: How homes in Delhi use LPG and PNG
40% of India’s LPG demand is produced domestically. On March 8, the government directed all refineries to maximise LPG yields; in the last five days, LPG production has increased by 28%, Puri told Parliament.
Delhi Police personnel maintain a 24-hour vigil outside an LPG warehouse in the national capital. All routine leaves have been suspended with immediate effect to ensure security amid the global energy crisis and West Asia conflict. (Abhinav Saha)
DEPENDENCE ON THE GULF
India is the world’s second biggest importer of liquified petroleum gas (LPG). Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told Parliament on Thursday that India used to import approximately 60% of its requirement of LPG from Gulf countries such as Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. However, over the past couple of years, LPG cargoes are being procured from the US, Norway, Canada, Algeria, and Russia as well. Even so, 90% of India’s LPG imports continues to be dependent on West Asia and passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
40% of India’s LPG demand is produced domestically. On March 8, the government directed all refineries to maximise LPG yields; in the last five days, LPG production has increased by 28%, Puri told Parliament.
LPG CONSUMPTION IN INDIA
India consumed 33.15 million tonnes of LPG last year. As of July 1, 2025, the total number of active domestic LPG consumers in India stood at 33.05 crore, the government told Parliament in August 2025. The number of connections released under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was 10.56 crore as of March 10, according to the PMUY portal.
THE LPG DEMAND IN DELHI
The number of domestic LPG connections in Delhi stood at 51.78 lakh as on July 1, 2022, according to data presented by the government to Parliament on August 1, 2022. This included 35.41 lakh “double-bottle” connections. As of August 1, 2025, the total number of PMUY connections in Delhi was 2,59,054, according to data presented in Parliament on August 21 last year.
Assuming six 14.2-kg cylinders are supplied per year per domestic connection, the annual domestic demand in Delhi would work out to around 3.12 crore cylinders – or about 26 lakh cylinders per month. This estimate would not include the demand for commercial 19-kg cylinders that are typically used by restaurants, hotels, and eateries. According to industry estimates, restaurants in Delhi use between 2 and 6 commercial cylinders every day.
PIPED GAS IN DELHI & NCR
A large section of the population of Delhi and the NCR uses piped natural gas (PNG), supplied by Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) lines in housing societies and most well-off neighbourhoods. According to Delhi government figures, there were 17.23 lakh PNG connections in the capital as of 2025. PNG is produced by regasifying liquified natural gas (LNG), which India imports mainly from Qatar, the UAE, the US and Oman.
Advertisement
Loading Recommendations...
Live Blog