No Fuel Shortage: Govt Assures Adequate Supply, Urges Responsible Consumption

The Petroleum Ministry has assured there is sufficient supply of petrol, diesel, LPG and natural gas in the country and urged citizens and industry to use energy responsibly.

Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma, speaking at an Inter-Ministerial press briefing, appealed for energy conservation and asked bulk industrial and commercial consumers to purchase diesel from their consumer pumps to reduce pressure on retail outlets.

The appeal comes as the government put a temporary order in place to ease congestion at retail pumps.

Sharma explained that the supply of petrol, diesel and LPG remains stable and refineries are operating at optimum capacity, with crude inventories maintained.

The strain stems from a shift in offtake: about 42 crore litres of diesel that earlier moved through bulk or consumer pumps shifted to retail outlets in May, creating supply issues at some locations.

To protect common consumers, the government issued a budget notification on June 11, capping retail diesel sales at 200 litres per person per day.

How has LPG supply stabilised amid rising demand and what do the latest booking and delivery figures show?

Industrial and commercial users have been directed to source from their own consumer pumps. Sharma clarified this is a temporary order for about 90 days and has been brought in to save the common consumer from inconvenience, stressing there is no shortage of petrol and diesel.

LPG supply is also back in balance. In the last four days, 1.66 crore bookings were received and 1.84 crores delivered, bringing the backlog down to 3.3 days.

Commercial LPG sales stood at 24,184 tons in the period, while 2.18 lakh 5 kg cylinders were sold, including 14,500 through camps.

On PNG, 9.76 lakh connections have been gasified since March, and infrastructure has been created for 3.19 lakh more, with 9.72 lakh new customers registered.

Enforcement has been ramped up, too. Since March, 1,330 FIRs have been registered in LPG cases with 311 arrests and 75,960 cylinders seized. For petrol and diesel, 12,303 litres of petrol and 91,263 litres of diesel were seized since May 27, with 50 FIRs and 49 arrests.

Refineries sold 5,860 tons of C3-C4 molecules and 5,050 tons of butyl acrylate to chemical, pharma and paint industries.

Sharma stressed the measure is short-term and aimed at ensuring retail pumps remain accessible for two-wheelers, cars and farmers while bulk users revert to direct supply.

(With inputs from ANI)