The government has said that effective steps have been taken to ensure the availability of adequate crude oil, LPG and natural gas across the country. Addressing the Interministerial Briefing on Recent Developments in West Asia in New Delhi today, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sujata Sharma said that domestic LPG supply across the country remains smooth and no dry-out has been reported at any distributorship. She said that refineries are operating at maximum capacity and LPG connectivity has also increased.
Ms Sharma said that to minimise supply chain disruptions, commercial LPG restoration has reached nearly 70 per cent. She said that more than seven lakh LPG connections have been gasified since March this year, while around seven lakh 50 thousand new consumers have registered for PNG connections. She said that over the last three days, around one crore 40 lakh LPG bookings were received, out of which nearly one crore 39 lakh bookings have been serviced. She added that from the 1st of this month, around 83 thousand 500 tonnes of commercial LPG have been sold, while over the last three days, more than twenty three thousand 820 tonnes were sold.
Secretary of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mukesh Mangal said that two vessels carrying more than 90 thousand metric tonnes of LPG with over 20 crew members crossed the Strait of Hormuz last night and are expected to arrive on the 16th of this month. Mr Mangal said that the Indian trading vessel MSV Haji Ali, which was on a voyage from Somalia to Sharjah in the UAE, had encountered an incident in Omani waters in the early hours of yesterday. He said that a fire broke out on board, following which the vessel reportedly sank. He said that all 14 Indian crew members on board were safely rescued by the Omani Coast Guard and were reported to be safe at port. He said that the government and concerned authorities had remained in close coordination for the past 22 hours. He said that 158 seafarers have been safely repatriated and port operations across India remain normal. Mr Mangal noted that no other incident involving Indian vessels and Indian seafarers in the region has been reported in the past 72 hours.
