New Delhi, May 2 (IANS). The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Saturday that around 5.96 lakh Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections have been commissioned since March 2026 and infrastructure has been prepared for additional 2.68 lakh connections. In this way the total capacity has increased to 8.64 lakh connections.
Additionally, around 6.66 lakh consumers have registered for new connections, the ministry said in an official statement. According to the Petroleum Ministry, as of May 1, more than 43,350 PNG consumers have surrendered their LPG connections.
Since April 2026, more than 22.78 lakh units of 5 kg FTL cylinders have been sold.
The ministry said that since April 3, public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) have organized more than 9,980 awareness camps, in which more than 1.71 lakh 5 kg FTL cylinders were sold.
A total of 2,05,849 metric tonnes (which is equivalent to 108.34 lakh 19 kg LPG cylinders) of commercial LPG has been sold since April 2026. PSU OMC has also sold 10,698 metric tonnes of auto LPG since last month.
Gas supply to fertilizer plants has been increased to about 98 percent of their average utilization in the last six months.
The statement said that all the refineries in the country are working at high capacity and there is adequate stock of crude oil. Besides, adequate stock of petrol and diesel has also been maintained.
LPG production in refineries has also been increased to meet domestic consumption.
Further, an Inter-Ministerial Joint Working Group (JWG) has been constituted to ensure supply of petrochemical raw materials in the domestic market.
More than 10,000 MT of propylene and more than 1,200 MT of butyl acrylate have been sold to the chemical, pharma and paint industries from refineries in Mumbai, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Mathura and Gujarat since April 9, 2026.
In terms of fuel, the government said that all petrol pumps across the country are functioning normally.
The government said that panic buying has been seen in some places due to rumours. But there is sufficient stock of petrol and diesel available at all the petrol pumps in the country and there has been no change in their prices.
–IANS
DBP
