Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told the Lok Sabha that India’s crude supply is secure despite the West Asia crisis and disruption through the Strait of Hormuz. He said refineries are operating at high capacity utilisation, with several exceeding 100 per cent, and that there is no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel or fuel oil. He said the government's utmost priority is that kitchens of India's 330 million (mn) families do not face fuel shortage.

He said non-Hormuz sourcing has risen to approximately 70 per cent, up from 55 per cent before the conflict, and that India now sources crude from 40 countries compared with 27 in 2006-07. He added that diplomatic outreach has secured crude volumes compensating for disrupted Hormuz shipments and noted neighbouring states have taken measures such as school closures and reduced official travel. He cautioned that rumour-mongering and panic-booking distort demand rather than indicate supply failure.

He said liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production has been increased by 28 per cent through refinery directives and procurement has been diversified to include non-Gulf suppliers such as the United States and Norway. The standard time from booking to delivery for domestic LPG cylinders remains two and a half days and hospitals and educational institutions are on uninterrupted priority supply. Delivery Authentication Code coverage is being expanded from 50 per cent to 90 per cent and minimum booking gaps of 25 days in urban areas and 45 days in rural and remote areas have been introduced.

He said the PMUY beneficiary price has fallen to Rs 613 per 14.2 kg cylinder in Delhi while the non-subsidised price stands at Rs 913 against a market price of about Rs 987, and that the government absorbed Rs 74 of a Rs 134 per cylinder adjustment. The effective additional cost for a PMUY household is under eighty paise per day. Oil marketing company compensation of Rs 300 billion (bn) has been approved against losses of approximately Rs 400 billion (bn) and alternative fuels such as kerosene and fuel oil are being activated to ease pressure on gas channels.