Exclusive: India aims to import about 10% of its cooking gas from US from 2026, say sources
The world's third biggest oil importer and consumer relies heavily on Middle Eastern producers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), with more than 90% of its roughly 20.5 million metric tons of imports in 2024 coming from the region.
LPG is a mix of propane and butane used for cooking fuel and is mainly imported by state retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS), opens new tab, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS), opens new tab and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL.NS), opens new tab and sold at a subsidised price to households.
India had rarely bought U.S. LPG in the past due to higher freight costs, but state retailers began buying U.S. LPG in May after China imposed retaliatory import tariffs on U.S. propane.
India plans to eliminate import tax on U.S. propane and butane used for making LPG, sources previously told Reuters.
India has pledged to increase U.S. energy purchases by $10 billion to $25 billion in the near future and the two nations in February agreed to target $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.
India's import of U.S. oil has more than doubled this year, data obtained from sources showed.
"We are looking to the U.S. as a reliable alternative source of both crude and LPG. We need to diversify our sources of LPG," said one of the sources who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.
India has been diversifying its crude oil suppliers to reduce geopolitical risks and support its growing refining capacity. However, its LPG suppliers remain concentrated in the Middle East, typically purchased on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.
Chinese import tariffs on U.S. propane, currently at 10%, have opened up arbitrage opportunities for Indian buyers, further incentivising a shift toward U.S. cargoes, a second source said.
"We would prefer to import from the U.S. on a delivered basis to mitigate freight risks — similar to how we already buy U.S. crude," he said.
Indian state refiners are seeing annual LPG demand growth of about 5% to 6%, with total imports projected to rise to 22 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes by 2026, two of the sources said.
India's oil ministry and the three state fuel retailers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pricing will be key to determining the exact volume of U.S. LPG imports, a third industry source said.
The International Energy Agency expects India's LPG demand to grow at an average of 2.5% between 2024 and 2030, reaching 1.2 million barrels per day, or roughly 37.7 million tonnes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Pernod Ricard sells Imperial Blue whisky to India's Tilaknagar for $486 million
PARIS, July 23 (Reuters) - France's Pernod Ricard ( opens new tab has agreed to sell its Imperial Blue whisky brand to India's Tilaknagar Industries ( opens new tab for an enterprise value of 412.6 million euros ($486 million), as the spirits group boosts its focus on premium labels. Pernod Ricard sold 22.4 million 9 litre cases of Imperial Blue whisky in the fiscal year ended March 2025 across India and other markets. Its sale of the brand includes a 28 million euro deferred payment due four years after the deal closes. The world's second-largest Western spirits maker by revenue after Diageo (DGE.L), opens new tab on Wednesday said the deal would be "immediately and meaningfully accretive" to Pernod Ricard India's margin and sales growth upon closing. The French group has been streamlining its business and focusing on its core portfolio of pricey, global brands amid a sector-wide downturn in sales. Chairman and CEO Alexandre Ricard said the sale would "sharpen our focus on more profitable and faster growing brands in India, as in the rest of the world". Jean Touboul, CEO of Pernod Ricard India, said the deal would notably allow Pernod Ricard to allocate resources more effectively towards high-growth brands in India such as Royal Stag and Blenders Pride, as well as international brands like Chivas, Jameson, Absolut and Ballantine's. Pernod Ricard sees India, the group's second-largest market after the United States, as key to future growth. Alcohol sales in India are projected to hit $61.35 billion in fiscal 2025–26, showed data from analytics firm CRISIL. Imperial Blue, a leading mass-market whisky, competes with United Spirits' McDowell's No.1 in India. Pernod Ricard regards it as a local-value brand, less central than its premium global labels like Chivas Regal. For Tilaknagar Industries, a dominant player in India's brandy market with Mansion House, the deal marks a strategic shift into whisky - a faster-growing, higher-margin segment. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Inbrew Beverages and Tilaknagar Industries each sought to bid around $500 million for Imperial Blue. Global spirits makers are reworking strategies as post-pandemic liquor demand slumps amid inflation, interest rate hikes, tariff risk and shifting consumer habits. ($1 = 0.8491 euros)
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Newcastle's Alexander Isak offered £600,000-a-week tax-free deal by Al-Hilal
Alexander Isak has been offered a staggering £600,000-a-week tax-free deal by Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia with further lucrative bonuses on top. The Newcastle striker is open to leaving St James' Park and Liverpool, who are long-term admirers, are keeping an eye on the situation. Isak has not travelled to Asia with his Newcastle teammates for the club's pre-season tour, officially because of a minor muscle injury, and is assessing his options. They include Al-Hilal, who reached the Club World Cup quarter-finals, losing to Fluminense, and want to make a grand statement by signing Isak – one of the most coveted players on the market. Al-Hilal, who are managed by Simone Inzaghi, are prepared to sweeten the package for the striker with bonuses if he were to win the league and/or the Asian Champions League and top the scoring charts. Isak has been unsettled by the transfer talk and he did not play for Newcastle in the friendly at Celtic last Saturday. The club have no desire to sell him and the fans would surely take the dimmest of views of their Saudi owners if they were to let him go to Al-Hilal. Like Newcastle, Al‑Hilal are owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Liverpool would not be able to match the personal terms that Al‑Hilal have proposed and it is unclear whether they would be able to afford the fee; Isak is valued at about £120m. Liverpool have signed another striker – Hugo Ekitiké, for £79m from Eintracht Frankfurt – and spent heavily in other areas, most notably the £116m package for the midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. Their other big deals have been for Milos Kerkez (£40m from Bournemouth), Jeremie Frimpong (£29.5m, Leverkusen) and Giorgi Mamardashvili (£25m, Valencia). Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion When sales are factored in, chiefly those of Jarell Quansah (£30m to Leverkusen), Caoimhín Kelleher (£12.5m to Brentford) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£10m to Real Madrid), Liverpool's net transfer spend stands at £235.5m. It is possible they could raise further funds by selling Darwin Núñez, Harvey Elliott and even Luis Díaz, although they have maintained the Colombian is not for sale. Isak is contracted to Newcastle until 2028.
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Reuters
US lifts some Myanmar sanctions after general asked Trump for relief
WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - The United States lifted sanctions designations on several allies of Myanmar's ruling generals on Thursday, two weeks after the head of the ruling junta praised President Donald Trump and called for an easing of sanctions in a letter responding to a tariff warning. Human Rights Watch called the move "extremely worrying" and said it suggested a major shift was underway in U.S. policy towards Myanmar's military, which overthrew a democratically elected government in 2021 and has been implicated in crimes against humanity and genocide. The U.S. Treasury Department did not give a reason for the move, but Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender said in a statement: "Anyone suggesting these sanctions were lifted for an ulterior motive is uninformed and peddling a conspiracy theory driven by hatred for President Trump." "Individuals, including in this case, are regularly added and removed from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) in the ordinary course of business," he said in a statement. A notice from the U.S. Treasury Department said KT Services & Logistics and its founder, Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung; the MCM Group and its owner Aung Hlaing Oo; and Suntac Technologies and its owner Sit Taing Aung; and another individual, Tin Latt Min, were being removed from the U.S. sanctions list. KT Services & Logistics and Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung were added to the sanctions list in January 2022 under the Biden administration in a step timed to mark the first anniversary of the military seizure of power in Myanmar that plunged the country into chaos. Sit Taing Aung and Aung Hlaing Oo were placed on the sanctions list the same year for operating in Myanmar's defence sector. Tin Latt Min, identified as another close associate of the military rulers, was placed on the list in 2024 to mark the third anniversary of the coup. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. On July 11, Myanmar's ruling military general, Min Aung Hlaing, asked Trump in a letter for a reduction in the 40% tariff rate on his country's exports to the U.S. and said he was ready to send a negotiating team to Washington if needed. "The senior general acknowledged the president's strong leadership in guiding his country towards national prosperity with the spirit of a true patriot," state media said at the time. In his response to a letter from Trump notifying Myanmar of the tariff to take effect on August 1, Min Aung Hlaing proposed a reduced rate of 10% to 20%, with Myanmar slashing its levy on U.S. imports to a range of zero to 10%. Min Aung Hlaing also asked Trump "to reconsider easing and lifting the economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar, as they hinder the shared interests and prosperity of both countries and their peoples." Myanmar is one of the world's main sources of sought-after rare earth minerals used in high-tech defense and consumer applications. Securing supplies of the minerals is a major focus for the Trump administration in its strategic competition with China, which is responsible for 90% of rare earth processing capacity. Most of Myanmar's rare earth mines are in areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic group fighting the junta, and are processed in China. Representative Ami Bera, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Asia subcommittee in a statement to Reuters called the decision to lift sanctions against the individuals "a bad idea" that "goes against our values of freedom and democracy.' John Sifton, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, called the U.S. move "shocking" and its motivation unclear. "The action suggests a major shift is underway in U.S. policy, which had centered on punitive action against Myanmar's military regime, which only four years ago carried out a coup d'etat against a democratically elected government and is implicated in crimes against humanity and genocide," he said in an emailed statement.
