LPG price hiked by Rs 29 as West Asia crisis pushes domestic cylinder cost above Rs 1,600

New Delhi: The cost of supplying a 14.2 kg cylinder has risen to over Rs 1,600 amid the West Asia crisis and the under-recovery now absorbed on each domestic cylinder is about Rs 700, the government said on Sunday, as domestic cooking gas prices were increased by Rs 29 per cylinder.

According to Petroleum Ministry, the scale of this is visible in the fully market-priced commercial cylinder. The 19-kg cylinder used by hotels and restaurants sells in Delhi at Rs 3,113.50, about Rs 164 a kg, after five increases during the West Asia crisis.

The domestic household, by contrast, pays about Rs 66 a kg after the revision. Commercial gas carries a higher rate of tax and larger margins, so it sits above the household’s cost-reflective level; even so, the import-linked cost of a domestic cylinder works out to over Rs 1,600, the ministry informed.

As the conflict tightened the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and a large share of India’s energy imports pass, most commercial traffic in the waterway was brought to a near halt.

About 54 per cent of India’s LPG consumption was routed through the Strait, leaving the cooking-gas supply directly exposed to the disruption. (IANS)

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