In a major step towards strengthening India’s energy security, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday announced that Indian public sector oil companies have signed a one-year agreement to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States for the first time.
The minister shared the development through a post on social media on Monday and described it as a “historic first” for the country’s LPG market.
He said, “A historic initiative! One of the world’s largest and fastest growing LPG markets has opened up to the US. In our endeavor to provide safe and affordable supply of LPG to the people of India, we are diversifying our LPG sourcing. In a significant development, Indian public sector oil companies have successfully closed a one-year agreement for the import of approximately 2.2 MTPA of LPG.”
Highlighting India’s position as one of the largest and fastest growing LPG markets in the world, Puri said the new agreement is an important milestone in the country’s efforts to diversify LPG sourcing.
According to the minister, Indian public sector companies have signed contracts to import about 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LPG for the contract year 2026.
This quantity is about 10 percent of India’s annual LPC imports and will be sourced from the US Gulf Coast. He said this would be the first structured long-term contract involving US LPG for the Indian market.
Puri said the purchase has been benchmarked to Mount Bellevue, a key pricing point for the global LPG trade.
He said teams from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) had visited the United States in recent months to hold discussions with major US producers, which has now been successfully concluded.
The Minister also highlighted the government’s commitment to ensuring affordable LPG for Indian families, especially women benefiting from the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
He pointed out that despite global LPG prices increasing by more than 60 per cent last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured that Ujjwala consumers had to pay only Rs 500-550 per cylinder, while the actual cost was more than Rs 1,100.
The Government of India bore the burden of over Rs 40,000 crore during the year to protect consumers from international price shocks.
He also pointed out that the new US import agreement strengthens the government’s ongoing efforts to ensure reliable and affordable energy supplies for the people of the country.