India is stepping up efforts to secure LPG supplies amid disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, even as the government on Tuesday dismissed claims of any levy on vessels crossing the strategic waterway as “baseless” under international law.
Clarifying reports around transit charges, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary in the ministry of shipping, said, “As you would know, this is an international Strait, and as per international convention, it has the right of freedom of navigation and no levy fee can be imposed on it as per international regulation.”
He added, “Any fact presented by anyone, any argument made by anyone has no basis. It is baseless. This is a baseless argument.” The clarification comes as India intensifies measures to manage fuel supply disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict, with multiple Indian-flagged vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf.
Sinha said the government is actively loading LPG onto vessels to augment supplies. “There are five LPG tankers which are loaded… one will get loaded in another three to four days. So finally we will have six LPG-loaded carriers,” he said.
Update from the shipping ministry
According to the shipping ministry, several Indian vessels, including LPG carriers, crude oil ships and an LNG tanker, were impacted by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. While two LPG vessels — Shivalik and Nanda — have already reached India, Pine Gas and Jag Vasant are expected to arrive shortly.
The ministry noted that two LPG vessels recently crossed the Strait of Hormuz carrying cargo towards Indian ports, with Pine Gas bound for New Mangalore and Jag Vasant for Kandla.
On the domestic front
On the domestic front, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas said refineries are operating at high capacity and “adequate stocks of petrol and diesel are being maintained”, while LPG supply continues to be monitored.
While priority sectors continue to receive protected gas supplies, the government has taken steps to manage demand, including pushing PNG adoption and increasing domestic LPG production. It also confirmed that “no dry-outs have been reported at distributorships” despite the ongoing disruption.
To ensure availability, additional allocations of commercial LPG have been made to states, and enforcement action has been intensified to curb hoarding and black marketing, with thousands of inspections and raids conducted across the country.