Panaji, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday stated that India navigated energy supply disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by expanding its LPG import sources to 41 countries, asserting that domestic cooking gas availability remained uninterrupted throughout the crisis.
“A crisis is not something that you can anticipate. Puri said India expanded its import sources from 27 to 41 countries and domestic LPG production rose from 34,000 metric tonnes per day to 55,000 metric tonnes per day, helping offset disruptions in supplies from the Gulf.
He said that India’s experience during the crisis demonstrated that while geopolitical disruptions cannot always be anticipated, their impact can be minimised through advance preparedness and coordinated action. But without anticipating the nature of a crisis, or the specifics of the manner in which it unfolds, you can always start preparing yourself,” he said. The challenge for policymakers was to address emerging supply pressures before they escalated into a crisis, he said, adding that preventive measures had helped the country navigate the disruption without the widespread unavailability of domestic LPG cylinders. “Today, we are importing 67 per cent of our LPG from the United States,” he said, adding that India also began sourcing the fuel from Algeria and other available suppliers. The government responded on multiple fronts, with the petroleum secretary writing to chief secretaries of states and state civil supplies departments conducting raids to check hoarding and the diversion of cylinders, Puri said. Referring to the West Asia crisis, Puri said India was dealing with the fallout of a conflict it had not initiated and could appeal to the parties involved to pursue diplomacy instead of war, but such appeals had limitations when parties were determined to continue hostilities.
