India.com | When Will Domestic LPG Will Be Cheaper For People? Check What Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri Says

Feb 09,2023

The Central government on Thursday gave a hint and said that domestic LPG cylinders can become cheaper and be sold at ‘even more economical rates’ if the international price of fuel comes down from its current price of $750 per metric tonne.

Giving details, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said the international price currently is determined by several factors, and one of the analyses he can say that in a few years’ time, it will all be thing of the past because there will be so much gas available.

Responding to a query by DMK MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy on the price of domestic LPG in Lok Sabha, the petroleum minister said the government is “sensitive” to the requirements of the consumers, particularly the most vulnerable.

“The Saudi contract price went up by 330 per cent, yet the price increase was very small for the domestic thing. It would be ideal if the international Saudi contract price could come down from USD 750 per metric tonne, it would enable domestic LPG to be sold at even more economical rates,” he was quoted as saying by News 18.

The union petroleum minister further stated that India imports more than 60% of its domestic LPG consumption.

“The average Saudi CP prices on which the domestic LPG prices are based, increased from US$ 454/MT to US$ 693/MT during 2019-20 to 2021-22. During 2022-23 the average Saudi CP has further risen to US$ 710 /MT till February 2023,” he said.

He added that for domestic LPG, India continues to modulate the effective price to consumers. “Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies have suffered huge losses on sale of domestic LPG. To compensate these losses, the Government has recently approved a one-time compensation of Rs. 22000 crores to OMCs. The Government w.e.f. 21st May, 2022, has started a targeted subsidy of Rs. 200 per 14.2 Kg cylinder for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries for upto 12 refills a year for year 2022-23,” he said in the written reply.

According to Puri, the Retail Selling Price(RSP) of a domestic LPG cylinder (14.2 Kg) is Rs 1053 in Delhi.