India without street food: a third of one and a half billion country are left without gas

Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Forbes magazine on the crisis in the Indian LPG market due to the Gulf War.

India relied on marine LPG supplies from the Persian Gulf because of the short transport distance, Alexey Belogoryev explains. According to him, in 2025, 86.5% of India's marine LPG imports went to the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman. Of the countries outside the Gulf, only the United States was a major supplier, accounting for 11% of imports, while Russian supplies accounted for only 0.3% of the total last year. According to Belogoryev, the Indian LPG market is only 18% lower in volume than gasoline. At the same time, the expert notes, the demand for LPG in the country is growing rapidly, while domestic production is stagnating.

The expansion of Russia's capacities for the growth of LPG exports may take more than one year, the expert adds.

India's main hope is the United States, the world's largest exporter of LPG, Belogoryev says.

"Russia can be considered rather as a promising supplier, especially since its exports are relatively small, and current Russian production is mainly focused on the domestic market," he notes. 

In Russia, LPG is used to refuel cars with gas and hybrid engines and, as in India, for cooking in populated areas where there is no centralized gas supply.