Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid the raging war in West Asia, causing shortages of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) worldwide, the cooking gas consumption in India has slumped over 17 percent in the first two weeks of March 2026, the media reported on Tuesday.
Citing preliminary industry data, the report said the LPG consumption in India fell by a steep 17 percent in the first half of March because of supply disruptions caused by the conflict.
LPG consumption fell to 1.147 million tonnes (mt) during the first fortnight of March 2026, which is 17 percent lower than 1.387 mt consumed in the same period last year and 26.3 percent lower than 1.557 mt demand in the first half of February 2026.
India imports about 60 percent of its LPG requirements, most of it via the Strait of Hormuz which has been effectively shut following the ongoing US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran since February 28, and Tehran’s retaliation.
With supplies from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates disrupted, the government has cut LPG supplies to commercial establishments like hotels, and industries, to safeguard household cooking gas availability.
Preliminary sales data of three state-owned fuel retailers—Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum—which control nearly 90 percent of the market, showed LPG consumption between March 1 and March 15 was 16 percent lower than the demand in the same period of 2024 and 10.6 percent lower than March 1-15, 2023.
LPG consumption has grown at a steady 3–4 percent annually in recent years, driven by government efforts to replace firewood and other polluting fuels.
With the war leading to airspace closure in many Gulf countries and suspension of flights, jet fuel or ATF consumption also fell 4 percent to 327,900 mt in the first fortnight of March when compared with the same period last year. It was down 12.3 percent month-on-month.
Other than the two war-impacted fuels, petrol and diesel sales posted a handsome rise in demand. Petrol sales were up 13.2 percent to almost 1.5 mt while diesel consumption rose 8.2 percent to 3.384 mt.
Month-on-month, petrol consumption was up 11.2 percent and diesel sales rose 7.7 percent.
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