Reliance Tops LPG Production Target As Govt Fixes Refinery-Wise Production Caps

Reliance Industries has been assigned the highest cooking gas production target among all refiners in the country, under a new government order that fixes maximum LPG output levels for individual refineries and upstream companies for the first time, as per reports.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry's order, issued on August 13, requires Reliance's domestic-tariff area refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat, to produce up to 18,000 tonnes of LPG a day, the largest allocation among the 21 refineries and upstream companies covered under the framework. No production target has been set for the company's separate 35.2 million tonnes export-only refinery at the same location.

Buffer Against Future Disruptions

The order specifies maximum LPG production levels totalling 63,810 tonnes a day across the 21 entities. This figure is more than double the country's domestic LPG output in the financial year ended March 31, 2026, and represents close to 70% of India's daily consumption, according to the order.

The production limits are meant to come into effect whenever a supply constraint arises, the ministry said. The move follows the disruption in cooking gas imports earlier this year, after the outbreak of the Iran war effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the sea route through which India received 90% of its LPG imports from countries such as Saudi Arabia.

India consumed 33.2 million tonnes of LPG in 2025-26, translating to around 91,000 tonnes a day. Of this, only 13.1 million tonnes, or about 35,900 tonnes a day, was produced domestically, while the remaining 21.3 million tonnes, close to 58,400 tonnes a day, was imported. This meant the country's import dependence stood at over 64%, leaving it vulnerable when supplies from West Asia were hit.

How The Targets Are Divided

Besides Reliance, 18 refineries owned by public sector oil companies have collectively been ordered to produce 31,470 tonnes of LPG a day, the order showed.

Russia's Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy has been given a target of 4,480 tonnes a day for its Vadinar refinery, while upstream gas producers and processors such as ONGC and GAIL, which extract LPG from natural gas, have been assigned a combined target of 6,460 tonnes a day.

During the West Asia crisis, the government had in March directed refineries to divert streams otherwise used for petrochemicals towards maximising LPG production. Sales to industrial and commercial users were initially halted and then gradually resumed. For households, the periodicity of booking cooking gas refills was increased, and consumers were encouraged to shift to piped natural gas, whose supply chain was less affected by the war.

At the height of the crisis, domestic LPG production was scaled up to about 55,000 tonnes a day. The emergency directives were withdrawn in phases once supplies eased from mid-June, the ministry noted.

The latest order builds on those emergency measures by setting standing, facility-wise production benchmarks rather than temporary directives. It requires refiners and upstream companies to maintain adequate infrastructure for LPG storage, evacuation and transportation at all times, either on their own or through other entities such as railways or road tankers.

The order also empowers the central government to direct oil refining companies, oil marketing companies and upstream producers to raise LPG production for specified quantities and durations whenever it deems such action necessary to ensure adequate availability, equitable distribution and supply at fair prices.

"It is hereby ordered that all public sector, joint venture and private sector oil refining companies, and upstream oil companies shall develop, augment and at all times maintain adequate infrastructure for storage, evacuation and transport of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) either by itself or through other entities viz railways or road tankers adequate for the specified quantities," the order said.

Companies have also been directed to implement technically and economically feasible upgrades, including naphtha-to-LPG conversion and converting gasoline-based fluid catalytic cracking units to petro-fluid catalytic cracking units, to raise output beyond the current minimum producible quantities specified in the schedule. Any such upgrade must be intimated to the Centre for High Technology or another authorised agency, the order added.

The production schedule will be reviewed twice a year, on January 1 and July 1, to account for new refineries, additional upstream capacity, and changes arising from infrastructure or technology upgrades, the ministry said.