Indian Refiners See LPG Retail Losses Shrink

Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum have struggled with the rising costs of fuel procurement throughout the year. The government typically compensates these retailers for the gap between market rates and controlled retail prices, though these payments often arrive with a significant lag.

Energy security remains a precarious issue for the country, as 90% of India's LPG imports traditionally transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has forced a shift toward longer, more expensive supply routes to avoid the bottleneck. To mitigate the impact on the 60% of households reliant on LPG for cooking, authorities have prioritized domestic supply by redirecting fuel away from industrial users and accelerating the development of urban pipeline networks.