Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 18 (ANI): Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said India has successfully avoided shortages of crude oil, LPG and pipeline gas despite facing disruptions caused by two major wars in the world over the last four years.
Speaking during an interaction with the media in Varanasi, the Minister said the ongoing conflict in West Asia has created fresh challenges for the global energy sector and international supply chains.
“Look at the war going on in West Asia today, it is about to complete nearly 80 days. This conflict started on February 28. In the last four years, this is the second major war. Earlier, the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, and now this conflict has been continuing for the last 80 days,” Puri said.
He stated that despite these geopolitical disruptions, India ensured uninterrupted supply of energy products across the country.
“Because of this, many new challenges emerged. But I am happy to tell you that India is one such country in the world where we did not allow any shortage of crude oil, pipeline gas or LPG,” the minister said.
“For the last four years, we did not increase prices and in fact had reduced them as well,” he added.
However, he noted that rising crude oil prices and global instability have increased financial pressure on oil marketing companies (OMCs).
“At present, oil marketing companies are facing losses of Rs 1,000 crore per day, and the under-recovery is even higher,” the minister said.
The Petroleum Minister attended the District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee Meeting in Varanasi.
He further spoke about the government’s efforts to expand piped natural gas infrastructure and reduce dependence on LPG cylinders.
He said special focus is being given to increasing piped gas connections in Varanasi.
“Our CMDs, especially from GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited), have worked very hard. In Varanasi, in Kashi, we want the LPG connections to be converted into piped gas connections at a much faster pace,” Puri stated.
According to the minister, the pace of conversion from LPG to piped gas has already improved significantly.
“I am very happy that the conversion has increased four times, but I still believe it is less, and we would like to accelerate it further,” he said. (ANI)
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