New Delhi: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has notified a facility-wise Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production schedule covering public sector, joint venture and private refineries as well as upstream oil companies to maximise the production of cooking gas within the country. The schedule totals 63.81 thousand metric tonnes a day, or 63,810 tonnes a day.
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The order was notified on August 13 in exercise of powers under section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. It amends the Petroleum Products (Maintenance of Production, Storage and Supply) Order, 1999, and came into force on the date of its publication in the Gazette.
Eighteen public sector refineries carry a combined 31,470 tonnes a day, which is 49.3 percent of the total. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) holds nine of these. Its Digboi refinery is listed at 40 tonnes a day and Guwahati at 150 tonnes a day, the two smallest entries in the entire Schedule. Barauni is set at 1,120 tonnes a day, Gujarat at 1,590, Haldia at 850, Mathura at 2,200, Panipat at 2,360, Bongaigaon at 760 and Paradip at 3,360. The nine IOCL refineries together account for 12,430 tonnes a day, or 19.5 percent of the schedule.
Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd's (CPCL) Manali refinery is listed at 1,480 tonnes a day. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has two entries, Mumbai at 1,820 tonnes a day and Visakhapatnam at 2,020.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) is set at 4,600 tonnes a day. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has three entries: Mumbai at 1,800 tonnes a day, Kochi at 4,800 and Bina at 780. At 4,800 tonnes a day, BPCL Kochi is the highest public sector entry in the Schedule.
Numaligarh Refinery Ltd is listed at 240 tonnes a day. HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd (HRRL) is set at 1,540 tonnes a day.
Three private entries carry a combined 25,880 tonnes a day, or 40.6 percent of the Schedule. HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) is listed at 3,400 tonnes a day. Nayara Energy is set at 4,480 tonnes a day.
Reliance Industries Ltd's domestic tariff area (DTA) refinery is listed at 18,000 tonnes a day. That is the single largest entry in the schedule and accounts for 28.2 percent of the total on its own.
No target has been assigned for RIL's special economic zone (SEZ) refinery. The private sector subtotal of 25,880 tonnes a day is the exact sum of the HMEL, Nayara and RIL-DTA entries, indicating that no quantity has been assigned against RIL-SEZ.
Refineries in the public and private sectors together account for 57,350 tonnes a day, or 89.9 percent of the schedule.
Three upstream entries make up the balance. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is listed at 2,450 tonnes a day, Oil India Ltd (OIL) at 980 tonnes a day, and GAIL (India) Ltd at 3,030 tonnes a day. The upstream subtotal is 6,460 tonnes a day, or 10.1 percent of the schedule.
The new clause 3A directs all public sector, joint venture and private sector oil refining companies and upstream oil companies to develop, augment and at all times maintain adequate infrastructure for LPG storage, evacuation and transport. This may be done directly or through other entities such as railways or road tankers, and must be adequate for the quantities specified in the schedule.
Companies are also directed to implement all technically and economically feasible measures and technologies to maximise LPG production beyond current minimum producible quantities as specified in the schedule. The order names naphtha-to-LPG conversion and the conversion of a gasoline-based fluid catalytic cracking unit to a petro-fluid catalytic cracking unit as examples. Any such upgrade must be intimated to the Centre for High Technology (CHT) or another authorised agency.
The order defines an upstream oil company as any person, firm, company or other legal entity engaged in the exploration, appraisal, development and production of mineral oils.
Under sub-clause (2), the Central government may direct oil refining companies, oil marketing companies and upstream oil companies to ramp up LPG production for a specified quantity and period. It may do so if it is of the opinion that this is necessary in public interest to ensure adequate availability, equitable distribution and availability at fair prices of domestic LPG.
Such directions may include compliance with restrictions on alternative uses of the input streams required to produce LPG. Companies must meet the ramp-up within the stipulated time frame.
The Centre for High Technology or another authorised agency will monitor implementation. Any contravention of directions issued under the clause is punishable under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
The Central government will update the Schedule on January 1 and July 1 each year. Updates will cover LPG production from new refineries and upstream companies, and additional quantities from existing facilities arising from changes to associated infrastructure, production technology, evacuation, supply, transport or distribution.
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The order follows a year in which India's LPG import exposure came under strain. India consumed 33.2 million tonnes of LPG in 2025-26, of which 13.1 million tonnes was produced domestically and the balance imported. India Ratings and Research estimated imported LPG at 64.1 percent of consumption in the fiscal.
India used to source about 90 percent of its LPG imports from the Middle East, and shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz during the West Asia conflict hit availability. The government issued an order on March 8 directing refineries and petrochemical complexes to maximise LPG output by diverting propane, butane, propylene and butene streams to the LPG pool. Sales to industrial and commercial users were initially stopped and then scaled up gradually, the refill booking interval for households was lengthened, and households were encouraged to shift to piped natural gas. Domestic output was raised to about 55,000 tonnes a day at the peak of the crisis, and the emergency orders were withdrawn in stages after supplies eased from mid-June.
At 63,810 tonnes a day, the schedule works out to about 23.29 million tonnes on an annualised basis. That is roughly 78 percent above the 13.1 million tonnes produced domestically in 2025-26, and equal to about 70 percent of the country's average daily consumption in that year.
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