New Delhi [India], June 4 (ANI): Despite a series of government supply interventions aimed at stabilising the domestic energy market, state-run Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) continue to experience significant financial strain, with under-recoveries hovering around 700 per domestic LPG cylinder, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, on Thursday said that the government has taken several steps to ensure adequate LPG availability, including increasing domestic production and securing imports.

'As far as the under recovery on LPG domestic cooking cylinder is concerned, it is still in the range of almost 700 rupees,' Sharma said while responding to media queries.

Explaining the measures taken to reduce the LPG demand-supply gap, she said domestic production has been stepped up alongside import arrangements.

'One of the most important steps that has been taken, apart from tying up the import, is the domestic stepping up of the LPG production. If I give you the data from yesterday, then around 54 TMT of LPG was evacuated from different sources within the country,' she said.

Sharma attributed the recent moderation in LPG demand to multiple factors, including lower consumption by commercial and industrial users, improved booking cycles and technology-led delivery authentication.

'There has been a reduction because our commercial and industrial LPG... and the other reason is the booking period that we managed, I mean 25 days and 45 days. And the third reason is the DAC [Delivery Authentication Code] linked deliveries,' she said.

The ministry also said supplies of crude oil, LPG and natural gas remain stable despite geopolitical developments in West Asia.

'Despite the ongoing situation in West Asia, supplies of crude oil, LPG, and natural gas remain stable, and adequate stocks of petrol, diesel, and LPG are available in the country. Our refineries are operating at an optimum level,' Sharma said.

She said no LPG distributor across the country has reported a stock-out situation and highlighted the growing use of digital systems in LPG distribution.

'No dry out has been reported on the LPG distributorships. Around 99 per cent of the bookings are now online, and 96 per cent of the deliveries are through delivery authentication code,' she said.

According to the ministry, during the last three days, 1.43 crore LPG cylinders were delivered against bookings of 1.5 crore cylinders.

The government also reported progress in expanding piped natural gas (PNG) infrastructure. Since March 2026, around 8.82 lakh PNG connections have been gasified, and infrastructure has been created for an additional 2.98 lakh connections, taking the total to 11.80 lakh.

Sharma said more than 80,400 PNG consumers have surrendered their LPG connections as of June 3.

Responding to a question on ethanol blending and flex-fuel vehicles following the launch of India's first flex-fuel car by Maruti Suzuki earlier in the day, Sharma said E20 remains the base fuel standard while consultations are underway for higher blends.

'You already know that now E20 is the base fuel, right? And BIS [Bureau of Indian Standards] has also issued one more standard for E25,' she said.

Clarifying the distinction between higher ethanol blends and flex-fuel technology, Sharma added, 'Flex fuel means they can blend ethanol and petrol and use the car. So these are two different things. We should not confuse flex fuel as the base fuel.' (ANI)