The government has said that refineries in the country are operating normally and India has sufficient crude inventories despite the import disruption due to the ongoing West Asia crisis. Addressing the Inter-Ministerial Briefing in New Delhi today on Recent Developments in West Asia, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sujata Sharma said that the country has sufficient stock of petrol, diesel, LPG and natural gas. She highlighted that no dry outs have been reported in any LPG distributorship but due to the spreading of rumours, panic buying has been observed in some parts of the country. She informed that immediate actions are being taken to replenish the supplies at the identified retail LPG outlets. The Secretary said that over seven lakh PNG connections have been gasified since March, adding that infrastructure has been created for two lakh seventy six thousand connections. The Secretary also highlighted that in the last four days around one lakh seventy two thousand domestic LPG cylinders were delivered in the country. She said that since the start of this month, around one lakh eight thousand tonnes of commercial LPG were sold. The Secretary further noted that over one lakh ninety thousand 5 kg cylinders were sold in the last four days.
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Aparna S Sharma said that availability of fertilizer for the Kharif season is more than 50 percent across the states. The Joint Secretary said that over two hundred Lakh Metric Tonnes of fertilizers is available across the country. She clarified that there has been no change in Maximum Retail Price of major fertilizers. She said that domestic production after the crisis period has been substantial, about 86.2 Lakh Metric Tonnes and more than 22 Lakh Metric Tonnes of imports have reached the shore.
Additional Secretary of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Mukesh Mangal, said that a Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier SYMI carrying about 19 thousand 965 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for India arrived at the Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla in Gujarat on Saturday night. He said that all Indian seafarers in the region are safe and no incidents involving Indian Flag Merchant vessels or Indian seafarers on foreign flag Merchant vessels has been reported in the past 96 hours. Mr Mangal added that the Ministry continues to coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Missions, and maritime stakeholders to ensure seafarer welfare and uninterrupted maritime operations.
Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (Gulf) Aseem Mahajan said that Indian embassies and consulates continue to operate round the clock help lines to provide timely assistance and are proactively assisting country’s citizens. Mr Mahajan informed that Indian Embassy in Tehran has facilitated the movement of two thousand and 551 Indian nationals out of Iran through land border routes. He also said that regular advisories are being issued including information related to local government guidelines , flight and travel situations.
