India is facing one of its biggest fuel crises in decades due to the Iran-US-Israel conflict disrupting global energy flows.
The government has been pushing people to opt for PNG (piped natural gas) over LPG (liquified petroleum gas) cylinders amid Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
PNG is primarily natural gas delivered directly to homes through underground pipelines, extracted naturally from gas fields and transported in liquified form as LNG.
Domestically, PNG in India comes from gas fields like the Krishna-Godavari basin, Assam, and Tripura, with the deepwater Krishna-Godavari basin being the biggest contributor.
PNG flows continuously and is supplied at low pressure via city gas networks, making it structurally more resilient in situations like the current energy crisis.
LPG, on the other hand, depends heavily on imports shipped from the Middle East, making it vulnerable to immediate logistical shocks of the conflict.
The government has ordered households in areas with existing piped natural gas infrastructure to switch from LPG cylinders to PNG connections within three months or face discontinuation of gas refill supplies.
