India’s downstream oil and gas regulator has approved about 1,800 km of new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipelines, involving an estimated investment of around Rs 7,000 crore, as the government looks to strengthen fuel transportation infrastructure amid heightened geopolitical risks and the country’s dependence on imported cooking gas.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) said the pipelines will run through Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Goa and have been authorised for development by state-owned GAIL (India).
Once completed, the projects are expected to expand India’s common-carrier LPG pipeline network by more than 23% to around 9,500 km, the regulator said.
The expansion comes at a time when disruptions linked to the conflict in West Asia have renewed concerns over energy supply chains and fuel trade routes. India meets a significant portion of its LPG requirement through imports, leaving domestic supplies exposed to disruptions in international shipping and global prices.
PNGRB said the proposed pipelines would strengthen the country’s ability to move LPG supplies efficiently and respond to emergencies or disruptions.
Three new LPG pipelines
GAIL had earlier said it had received PNGRB authorisation for three projects, the Jhansi-Sitarganj, Cherlapalli-Nagpur and Shikrapur-Hubli-Goa LPG pipelines.
The company had estimated their combined investment at around Rs 6,700 crore over three years, slightly below the regulator’s latest estimate. The authorisations were received in July. Together, the three pipelines span more than 1,800 km.
GAIL is already one of India’s major LPG pipeline operators. As of December 2025, it operated around 2,040 km of LPG pipelines, including the 1,427-km Jamnagar-Loni pipeline and the 610-km Vizag-Secunderabad pipeline, with an LPG transportation capacity of about 4.58 million tonnes per annum.
Reducing dependence on LPG tankers
Apart from improving supply security, a larger pipeline network could reduce the amount of LPG transported over long distances through road tankers.
Pipeline transportation is generally better suited for moving large and steady volumes of fuel between import terminals, refineries and bottling plants. PNGRB said the projects are expected to reduce LPG tanker movement, which could lower logistics costs, ease road congestion and improve safety.
The expansion is significant given the scale of India’s domestic LPG market. Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell data show the country had about 33.14 crore active domestic LPG connections as of July 1, 2026, including more than 10.57 crore connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
Domestic households remain the biggest users of LPG. In FY25, packed domestic cylinders accounted for nearly 89% of total LPG sales, according to PPAC data.
The latest investment, therefore, is aimed not at expanding LPG access alone but at strengthening the infrastructure behind an already large distribution system.
As per experts interviewed by Reuters, the case for pipelines has also become stronger as geopolitical disruptions expose the risks of relying on imported fuel as well as road-based transportation within the country.