India has 60 days of oil stock: Govt dismisses shortage rumours, says steady supply assured for months

Amid swirling reports of a fuel crisis in India, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas assured on Thursday that there is no shortage of petrol, diesel, or LPG nationwide.

The government said that all retail outlets maintain sufficient inventories to meet public demand.

It has urged citizens to ignore misinformation campaigns designed to incite panic.

The administration asserted that despite the volatile situation in the Strait of Hormuz, India’s procurement strategy remains robust. The country is currently receiving higher volumes of crude from its network of over 41 global suppliers than it previously imported through the contested waterway.

This comes as Iran has effectively blocked the strategic Strait — a transit point for 20% of global oil — in retaliation for military strikes by the US and Israel that commenced three weeks ago, driving international energy costs upward.

As the world’s fourth-largest refiner and fifth-largest exporter of petroleum products, India continues to supply refined fuels to more than 150 nations.

“Because India is a net exporter to the world, domestic petrol and diesel availability is structurally assured. All 1 lakh-plus retail fuel outlets across the country are open and dispensing fuel without interruption,” the Oil Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry emphasised that while several other countries are currently rationing fuel or facing mandatory station closures, India’s supply chain remains uncompromised.

“Despite the surge in demand at such pumps, fuel was dispensed to all the consumers and Oil company depots have been operational through the night to ramp up supplies. Steps have also been taken by oil companies to increase credit to petrol pumps to over 3 days from earlier allowed one day in order to ensure that there is no shortage of petrol and diesel at any pump due to working capital issues of pump owners,” it added.

Despite these assurances, panic buying has led to long queues at various pumps. In Telangana, some stations displayed “no stock” signs following an unprecedented surge in consumer purchases, according to the Hindustan Times.

Dismissing the rumours suggesting that only six days of energy stocks are left in the country, the ministry said: “India has 74 days of total reserve capacity and actual stock cover is around 60 days right now (including crude stocks, products stocks and the dedicated strategic storage in caverns) even as we are on the 27th day of the Middle East crisis.”

“Nearly two months of steady supply is available for every Indian citizen regardless of what happens globally. Next 2 months of crude procurement has also been secured. India is completely secure for the next many months and the quantity in strategic cavern storage becomes secondary in such a supply situation,” it added.

No LPG crisis, says govt

Addressing the LPG situation specifically, the central government reiterated that no deficit exists. Under the LPG Control Order, domestic refinery output has been boosted by 40%. This has elevated daily production to 50 TMT, covering over 60% of the national requirement, against a total daily demand of approximately 80 TMT.

“The net daily import requirement has consequently come down to only 30 TMT — meaning India is now producing much more than it needs to import. Over and above domestic production, 800 TMT of assured inbound LPG cargoes are already secured and en route from the United States, Russia, Australia, and other countries, arriving across India’s 22 LPG import terminals — double the 11 terminals that existed in 2014,” it said. “Approximately one full month of supply is firmly arranged, with additional procurement being finalised continuously.”