Drewry’s latest LPG Forecaster reported a 24% increase in India’s LPG imports in 2024, driven by residential consumption linked to general elections, low domestic production, and redirection of LPG to the petrochemical sector.
The report indicates that import growth is expected to slow in 2025 due to declining residential demand, influenced by a shift to natural gas and biofuels, and LPG penetration nearing saturation.
India’s LPG consumption rose 7% in 2024, supported by the addition of 7.5 million low-income households under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna Phase 2, bringing the total to 103 million since 2016, while stable cylinder prices and industrial demand, particularly from Gujarat’s ceramics sector, also contributed.
Domestic production remained flat due to lower refinery yields, heavy maintenance, and a focus on petrol and diesel, with 67% of India’s LPG needs met by imports in 2024, up from 47% in 2015.
The Middle East supplied 97% of these imports, with a 60% butane and 40% propane mix preferred for residential use.
In 2025, a potential US-China tariff war could shift China’s sourcing to the Middle East, raising Saudi CP propane prices and prompting India to diversify imports, possibly from the US, where propane-rich cargoes could serve new petrochemical projects like GAIL’s 5 mtpa PDH plant, Petronet’s 7.5 mtpa PDH plant, and Reliance Industries’ 5.2 mtpa Jamnagar Polypropylene Plant 3.
Drewry Maritime Research, a UK-based consultancy founded in 1970, provides market analysis and forecasting for the global shipping and maritime industries, including its LPG Forecaster reports.
Indian Oil Corporation, headquartered in New Delhi and established in 1959, is India’s largest state-owned oil and gas company, responsible for the majority of the country’s LPG imports in 2024.
GAIL (India) Limited, based in New Delhi and formed in 1984, is a state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company preparing to commission a 5 mtpa propane dehydrogenation plant in Maharashtra in 2025.