The Oil Ministry has dismissed reports of shortages as a “deliberate misinformation campaign” to spur panic buying
India has adequate fuel stocks to cover the country’s needs for 60 days, the government has said.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has urged citizens not to be misled by media reports that the South Asian nation is facing depleting oil reserves.
There is no shortage of petrol, diesel, or LPG in the country, the Oil Ministry said on Thursday, terming the reports “a deliberately mischievous, coordinated campaign of misinformation that is being carried out to spread unjustified panic.”
“When the rest of the world has been taking drastic fuel conservation measures such as odd-even, four-day work weeks, school and office closures and increasing fuel prices by 20-30%…India remains an oasis of energy security,” Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in an X post on Friday.
India, the world’s fourth largest refiner and fifth largest exporter of petroleum products, is supplying refined fuel to over 150 countries, the ministry said.
🚨Some posts circulating on social media claim that India has ‘only 9 days of oil reserves left’.#PIBFactCheck:
✅ India has a total reserve capacity of 74 days, with the current stock cover at around 60 days. This includes crude oil, petroleum… pic.twitter.com/12O5JIwU1I
The official Press Information Bureau’s Factcheck division posted on X that the country has a reserve capacity of 74 days and stock cover of two months.
“All 1 lakh [100,000]-plus retail fuel outlets across the country are open and dispensing fuel without interruption. Not a single outlet has been asked to ration supply,”the Oil Ministry said in a release.
India is now receiving more crude oil from its 41-plus suppliers across the world than what was arriving before the conflict began, it added.
New Delhi has invoked special legislation to speed up gas pipeline projects and to ensure domestic cooking gas supplies for its 1.4 billion population amid the Middle East conflict.
The US-Israeli war against Iran has virtually halted shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Around 40% of India’s crude oil imports and 55% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments pass through the strait, which is controlled by Iran.
Iran has permitted the passage of Indian ships through the Strait of Hormuz, its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has said.
