Strait of Hormuz disruptions: India buys first LPG cargo from Iran in years; tanker was initially bound for China

For the first time in several years, India has reportedly purchased liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran after the Donald Trump administration granted a 30-day sanctions waiver to keep oil and gas prices in check. India had stopped energy imports from Iran in 2019 amid Western sanctions. Data from LSEG indicated that the tanker carrying the cargo was originally headed for China.

India has faced significant disruption to energy supplies routed through the Strait of Hormuz due to the ongoing US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Iran LPG headed to India

The sanctioned vessel Aurora, transporting Iranian LPG, is expected to arrive today at the west coast port of Mangalore, sources told Reuters. Sources said the cargo was procured through a trader, with payment to be made in rupees. They added that India is also considering additional purchases of Iranian LPG cargoes.

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The LPG shipment will be distributed among three state-run fuel retailers: Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited.

However, an official said he was not aware of any purchases of Iranian cargoes. “(There are) no loaded cargoes from Iran, we have not heard of that,” Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Special Secretary in the federal shipping ministry, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

India, the world’s second-largest importer of LPG, is grappling with its most severe gas supply crunch in decades, prompting the government to cut allocations to industries in order to safeguard household cooking fuel needs.

The country consumed 33.15 million metric tonnes of LPG last year, with imports meeting roughly 60% of the demand. A significant majority of these imports originated from the Middle East.

India is also working to clear LPG cargoes stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, with four tankers — Shivalik, Nanda Devi, Pine Gas and Jag Vasant — already moved. In addition, the country has begun loading LPG onto empty vessels that had been stuck in the Persian Gulf.

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