The Petroleum Ministry has asked states and Union Territories to provide district-level administrative support to accelerate the shift of households from LPG to piped natural gas (PNG), including by appointing nodal officers to coordinate with gas distributors and oil marketing companies.

In an August 21 letter to state chief secretaries, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal said PNG brings a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, playing a critical role in advancing India's energy transition while reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution and improving consumer convenience.

"PNG brings a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, playing a critical role in advancing the country's energy transition objectives. Its accelerated adoption contributes to reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution, enhancing consumer convenience, and improving utilisation of CGD infrastructure created through substantial public and private investment," Mittal said in the letter.

The ministry is seeking district-level intervention as it moves to implement a regulatory framework aimed at preventing households from retaining both LPG and PNG connections in areas where piped gas is available.

The push for faster adoption of gas piped to households for cooking purposes, called PNG, follows the disruption to India's LPG supply chains during the West Asia crisis earlier this year. LPG was among the fuels most exposed to the conflict because India imports a large share of its cooking-gas requirement, with much of those supplies coming from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait and moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The disruption forced the government to prioritise domestic LPG supplies, with commercial and industrial consumers facing restrictions before supplies were progressively restored. India has since moved to diversify its LPG sourcing, including higher purchases from the US and Algeria.

Domestic PNG supplies received priority allocation of domestically produced natural gas, insulating the segment from much of the disruption that affected imported LPG and LNG cargoes.

The government has notified the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution Orders of 2026 and LPG Control Orders under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The orders prohibit households from retaining simultaneous LPG and PNG connections and provide for discontinuation of LPG supply to households that fail to apply for a PNG connection despite due notice, wherever PNG supply is available.

The ministry has directed authorised city gas distribution (CGD) entities and public-sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) to establish a PNG Coordination Committee (PCC) in every geographical area. The committees will identify eligible housing societies and households, issue statutory notices to housing societies, resident welfare associations and individual consumers, and conduct outreach camps to accelerate PNG connections.

District administration will help secure right of way or right of use from RWAs and housing societies, facilitate the transition between LPG distributors and CGD entities, support consumer outreach and verification, and resolve consumer grievances.

The ministry said officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies are best placed to provide this support because of their existing regulatory interface with LPG distributors and their field-level administrative reach.

Mittal asked chief secretaries to direct their respective food and civil supplies departments to nominate one nodal officer at the district level, not below the rank of district supply officer, to be formally associated with the local PCC. States and UTs have been asked to provide the names, designations and contact details of the nominated officers at the earliest.

The ministry asked states to accord priority to the matter, citing the government's commitment to expanding PNG adoption in a time-bound manner.

Context and additional details

The government has already been encouraging consumers to shift to PNG, as the Strait of Hormuz—through which 50 per cent of India's LPG imports transited—was choked due to the Middle East crisis. This led to a major disruption in the LPG supply chain.

The government also notified the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Amendment Order, 2026, aimed to provide additional relaxation and convenience to domestic LPG consumers who shift to PNG connections.

During the West Asia crisis, about 7.99 lakh PNG connections were gasified and infrastructure was created for an additional 2.87 lakh connections, taking the total to 10.86 lakh connections.

Separately, reports indicate that LPG sales have declined, and domestic cooking gas is sold below cost, increasing the burden on state-run fuel retailers. To reduce subsidy expenditure, the government has approved an incentive scheme for city gas distributors to increase domestic PNG connections from September 1, 2026.

Additionally, the government has directed Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to source at least 15% of India's LPG imports for 2027 through US term contracts, with plans to raise this to 25%. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has also fixed maximum LPG production levels for 21 refineries and upstream companies, with a combined potential of 63,810 tonnes a day—more than twice the domestic LPG production in the financial year ended March 31, 2026, and representing around 70% of daily consumption.

These measures reflect the government's broader strategy to reduce dependence on imported cooking gas, strengthen domestic supply resilience, and accelerate the transition to piped natural gas in households.