In a major push to strengthen India’s energy security, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday unveiled what he called a “historic” agreement to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States.
The move, the Petroleum Minister said, aligns with India’s ongoing strategy to diversify its LPG sourcing and ensure stable, affordable supplies for consumers.
Indian public-sector oil companies have finalised a one-year contract to import approximately 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LPG from the US Gulf Coast for 2026.
This volume accounts for nearly 10 per cent of India’s total yearly LPG imports and marks the country’s first structured LPG procurement arrangement with the US—an important milestone in bilateral energy cooperation.
Calling it a breakthrough, Puri wrote on X, “A historic first! One of the largest and the world’s fastest-growing LPG market opens up to the United States. In our endeavour to provide secure affordable supplies of LPG to the people of India, we have been diversifying our LPG sourcing. In a significant development, Indian PSU oil companies have successfully concluded a 1-year deal for imports of around 2.2 MTPA LPG, close to 10% of our annual imports – for the contract year 2026, to be sourced from the US Gulf Coast- the first structured contract of US LPG for the Indian market.”
He noted that teams from Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) had travelled to the US in recent months to engage with leading American producers. These negotiations, he said, have now been successfully completed.
Explaining the structure of the procurement, Puri said, “This purchase is based on using Mount Belvieu as the benchmark for LPG purchases and a team of our officials from Indian Oil Corp Ltd, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation had visited the US and engaged in discussions with major US producers over the last few months, which have been concluded now.”
The minister also reiterated the government’s commitment to protecting consumers—particularly Ujjwala beneficiaries—from volatile global energy prices.
Highlighting the government’s substantial financial support, he said, “Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi Ji, our PSU oil companies have been providing LPG at the lowest global prices to all our mothers and sisters. Even as global prices soared by over 60 per cent last year, Modi Ji ensured that our Ujjwala consumers continued to receive LPG cylinder at just Rs 500-550 whereas the actual cost of the cylinder was over Rs 1,100. Government of India incurred the cost of over Rs 40,000 crores last year in order to ensure our mothers and sisters did not feel the burden of rising international LPG prices.”
The new agreement comes amid a broader push to deepen India-US energy collaboration. In September, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal emphasized in New York that India expects to expand its energy trade with the US, noting that Indian talent and innovation continue to fuel American growth.
“We expect to increase trade with US on energy products in the years to come,” Goyal said at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
The sentiment echoes a joint statement released earlier in February, in which both nations pledged to strengthen their partnership across the energy spectrum.
The statement noted, “The leaders agreed that energy security is fundamental to economic growth, social well-being and technical innovation in both countries. They underscored the importance of US-India collaboration to ensure energy affordability, reliability, and availability and stable energy markets.”
With India’s energy demand rising steadily, the latest US LPG deal marks an important step in broadening supply sources while reinforcing strategic ties between the two nations.
