New Delhi: Amidst the global energy crisis arising from the West Asia conflict, which has hit India also, a parliamentary panel Tuesday urged the government to take all possible measures to achieve the global standard of maintaining 90 days of crude oil storage in the country.
In its seventh report tabled in the Lok Sabha, the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas (2025–26), examining demands for grants for FY 2026–27, strongly urged the ministry to make “every possible effort to achieve the global standard of maintaining 90 days of crude oil storage within the country for strengthening the nation’s energy security and safeguarding the economy against potential supply shocks and external uncertainties”.
India currently maintains Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) with a total capacity of 5.33 million metric tonnes (MMT), spread across Visakhapatnam (1.33 MMT), Mangalore (1.5 MMT) and Padur (2.5 MMT). This capacity translates to roughly nine to ten days of India’s crude oil requirements.
However, these strategic reserves represent only a portion of India’s emergency stocks. State-owned refiners maintain an additional crude storage of around 65 days in their commercial inventories, thereby taking India’s total storage capacity to 74-75 days.
To add storage capacity, the government in July 2021 approved an additional 6.5 MMT capacity under phase-2 of SPRs—Chandikhol (4 MMT) and Padur-II (2.5 MMT)—to be developed under a public-private partnership model. This would add another 12 days’ worth of imported oil reserves.
While the committee noted progress with land acquisition at Chandikhol being at an advanced stage and financial closure for Padur-II underway, it flagged persistent delays that have stalled momentum.
The report observed that land allocation and acquisition hurdles at both sites have led to repeated under-utilisation of allocated funds. “The Committee observes that the allocation has been scaled down at the revised estimate stage over the past three years,” it stated.
Budgetary trends reflect this pattern. In FY 2023-24, Rs 508 crore was allocated but revised down sharply to Rs 40 crore, with no expenditure incurred. The following year, Rs 408 crore was budgeted, revised to Rs 30 crore, and only Rs 17.25 crore spent.
In FY 2025-26, the budget estimate of Rs 100 crore was cut to Rs 20 crore at the revised stage, with final expenditure at Rs 14.54 crore. For FY 2026-27, the allocation stands at just Rs 20 crore.
“The Committee notes that delays in finalising the bidding process and subsequent stages under the PPP framework led to the withdrawal of funds projected for milestone payments at the BE stage, particularly for the Phase-II project at Padur in Karnataka,” the report stated.
The panel recommended that the ministry and oil marketing companies explore building more underground storage caverns in geologically suitable locations to bolster energy security. It also stressed the need for better planning, timely execution, and optimal utilisation of funds to meet SPR targets within stipulated timelines.
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PNG rollout lags targets
The report also raised concerns over the slow expansion of Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections under the City Gas Distribution (CGD) network.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has authorised 307 geographical areas covering the entire mainland with 12.63 crore PNG connections, 18,336 CNG stations, and 5.46 lakh inch-km of pipelines by 2034.
However, progress has been uneven. Against a pro-rata target of 3.73 crore PNG connections by November 2025, only 1.58 crore domestic connections have been achieved—leaving the rollout 58 percent behind schedule.
The committee recommended that the ministry prioritise expanding PNG connections through accelerated CGD network development.
Ujjwala sees saturation, but usage gaps persist
On the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), the panel noted that the flagship scheme has largely achieved saturation.
Since its launch in 2016, it has provided deposit-free LPG connections to poor women, reaching 10.43 crore beneficiaries by January 2026.
An additional 25 lakh connections have been sanctioned for 2025-26, of which 10.35 lakh have already been released.
The ministry informed the panel that average per-connection consumption has increased from about 3.6-3.7 refills annually in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to roughly 4.8 refills (pro-rata basis) in 2025–26, following an increase in subsidy to Rs 300 (earlier Rs 200) per cylinder for up to nine refills.
Despite this improvement, the committee flagged a deeper concern that “4-5 refills a year indicates that many households still do not rely on LPG as their primary cooking fuel throughout the year”.
Responding to this, the ministry told the committee that “consumption of domestic LPG by households depends on several factors like food habits, household size, cooking habits, preferences, price, availability of alternate fuels etc.” To address this, the committee recommends offering regions with lower refill rates a higher subsidy to encourage sustained LPG usage.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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