Two Indian-flagged LPG carriers, Jag Vasant and Pine Gas, passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday (March 23, 2026) evening. Together, they transport nearly 93,000 tonnes of LPG, according to an inter-ministerial briefing held on Monday (March 23, 2026).
Jag Vasant and Pine Gas, owned by Great Eastern Shipping and Seven Islands Shipping respectively, are likely to reach Indian ports between 26 March 2026 and 28 March 2026.
Besides, the flurry of LPG import shipments that came in the last few days and were scheduled for the coming week may have eased the cooking gas crisis somewhat. In a sign of this, the government announced a 20% increase in commercial LPG allocations, bringing it up to 50% of pre-war levels, even as it said the LPG situation remained a concern.
The government said domestic LPG production has increased by 40%, which would mean an additional 18,000 tonnes of production per day, reducing the estimated daily import requirement from 55,000 tonnes. Under normal circumstances, India would need at least one very large gas carrier of 55,000 tonnes to dock at one of its ports every day and unload its cargo.
Two foreign-owned and foreign-flagged LPG carriers, Hellas Gladiator and Gas Jupiter, each carrying 24,000 tonnes, are expected to arrive at Vishakhapatnam on March 30, 2026.
Hellas Gladiator was loaded in the Netherlands. Port sources say the supply is part of a strategic decision to source LPG from European markets to avoid ongoing supply constraints in West Asia. A vessel is sailing in the Indian Ocean. Jupiter Gas has loaded its cargo in the US
The SA-LPG Cave Project in Visakhapatnam, which is one of the two long-term LPG storage facilities in India, handled two LPG-carrying ships after February 28. Each ship carried and unloaded about 24,000 tons. The cavern has a total capacity of 60,000 tonnes and is one of the two long-term LPG storage facilities in India.
Globe Polaris, carrying cargo from Houston, Texas, is expected to reach Sandhead, Kolkata on March 24, according to an official at Haldia Port. It docks the following day and releases a total of more than 20,000 tons.
BW Birch, carrying LPG taken from Nanda Devi at Vadinar port in Gujarat via ship-to-ship transfer, is expected to dock at Haldia on March 29 and discharge its cargo. Gaseous Jupiter is also expected on April 3 in Haldia. Recently, two LPG ships were launched at Ennore, Chennai.
While Kochi has not received any LPG since February 28 and none is expected this week, two ships recently unloaded their LPG cargo at Ennore in Chennai.
The LPG carrier Apollo Ocean will call at New Mangalore Port (NMP) on March 25 to discharge nearly 27,000 tonnes. The Vietnamese-flagged vessel arrives from Vadinar, where it took over cargo from Shivalik.
Another LPG tanker carrying around 30,000 tonnes of cargo is expected on March 29 at Mangaluru. HPCL’s LPG import facility at Mangaluru transfers the imported LPG to local bottling plants and pumps the gas to Bengaluru and beyond through the Mangaluru-Bengaluru LPG pipeline.
Meanwhile, a refining expert, who did not wish to be identified, warned that the 40% increase in domestic LPG production from refineries may not be sustainable in the long term. “Forty percent can only be feasible if the extraction of all value-added products from raw LPG is stopped and pumped into the market as LPG. For example, the production of propylene, which goes into the production of polypropylene, has been stopped, which will cause significant losses to the refinery,” the expert said.
(With contributions from Sumit Bhattacharje, Sunita Sekar, Anil Kumar Sastri, Satyasundar Barik, Dhinesh Kallungal and Lalatendu Mishra)
Published – 23 March 2026 16:48 IST
