Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 7: In a major relief to the people in the rural areas, the union petroleum ministry on Monday directed the state-run oil marketing companies to reduce the gap between booking of the cooking gas cylinders to 25 days, down from the present restrictions of 45 days imposed during the West Asia crisis.
The directive was issued to the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) — to uniformly implement a 25-day inter-refill booking interval for domestic LPG consumers across both urban and rural areas, with immediate effect.
The Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism, Suresh Gopi announced the revision of the refill booking interval in rural areas to 25 days. He said the refill booking interval was revised due to the pressure on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply during the West Asia conflict. “However, in view of the current LPG supply situation improving and the significant reduction in refill backlog, the central government has relaxed this restriction. Now, all domestic LPG consumers, regardless of urban or rural, can book refills at an interval of 25 days,” Mr Gopi said. He also shared a copy of the letter the Petroleum Ministry issued to the OMCs to implement the change immediately.
In its letter dated September 7, the Ministry said the move followed a considerable reduction in refill backlogs compared with the situation that prevailed when demand-management measures were first introduced. Those measures had been put in place during the outbreak of the conflict in West Asia in February 2026, when the Ministry prescribed a booking interval of 25 days for urban consumers and 45 days for rural consumers as a temporary step to manage demand amid supply pressure.
With the LPG supply position now easing, the Ministry has decided to do away with the differentiated timeline and revert to a uniform 25-day booking gap for all domestic consumers, regardless of location.
Meanwhile, the LPG sales continued to fall, dropping 16.1 per cent to 2.42 million tonnes. LPG demand had fallen 17.4 per cent in July. Industry officials said this was largely because some volumes have shifted to piped natural gas since the West Asia crisis.
LPG sales have been declining since the onset of the West Asia crisis, which disrupted supplies and led to consumption restrictions in sectors like hotels and restaurants.
The curbs were lifted in June, when sales rose 8.6 per cent to 2.18 million tonnes but were lower year-on-year, as some industrial and commercial users are now using piped natural gas for their needs, they said.
August LPG consumption was 12.6 per cent lower than 2.77 million tonnes in August 2024 and 0.3 per cent lower than 2.43 million tonnes in August 2023. Month-on-month LPG sales were up 2.2 per cent to 2.37 million tonnes, the data showed.
The government last week had hiked the price of commercial LPG, used by establishments such as hotels and restaurants, by Rs 9.50 per 19-kg cylinder, in line with a rise in their international benchmarks. As a result, commercial LPG prices have increased from Rs 2,738 per 19-kg cylinder to Rs 2,747.50.