LNG imports weakened in March 2026 before recovering in April-May | Photo Credit: Businessline

As blockade of the Strait of Hormuz (SoH) nears 120 days with the US-Iran peace talks see-sawing, India continues to import record volumes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Washington, which has already emerged as New Delhi’s top supplier for the two commodities in the first 90 days of the West Asia conflict.

In fact, LPG and LNG imports from the US to India during May 2026 were at record levels, Kpler data shows.

India’s LNG imports (till June 19^th) stood at around 0.41 million tonnes (mt) on a provisional basis, which is a decline of 55 per cent from the record LNG import in May (0.91 mt). On an annual basis, shipments were up 46 per cent, latest numbers from the real time data and analytics provider showed.

Similarly, LPG imports stood at roughly 0.50 mt (till June 19^th), a decline of 21 per cent from the record 0.63 mt imported last month. Imports were higher by 52 per cent on an annual basis, it added.

“The US has become a major LPG supplier for India as Gulf flows were recently disrupted. While this improves diversification, it can raise delivered costs due to longer-haul freight. For further diversification, India can look to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Australia. Additionally, investing in technology to increase domestic LPG yields or shifting the consumer base to PNG could help guard against future disruptions,” Sumit Ritolia, Kpler’s Kpler’s Lead Research Analyst for Refining & Modeling, told businessline.

imports impacted

Besides, India remains structurally dependent on Gulf supply, though sourcing patterns shifted during recent disruptions. LPG was impacted the most, with Gulf suppliers losing market share to the US. Crude imports were more resilient due to bypass routes and incremental volumes from Russia, Brazil and Venezuela, he added.

LNG imports weakened in March 2026 before recovering in April-May. Qatar’s share dropped sharply in recent months, while the US, Oman, Nigeria and Angola became more important sources of supply.

During the March-May 2026 quarter, Washington supplied 1.5 mt of LNG to India, compared to a mere 0.1 mt by Qatar. This is against Qatar supplying 3 mt during March-May 2025 against 0.5 mt by the United States. India’s cumulative LNG imports for the first 90 days (March- May 2026) stood at 5.8 mt, a decline of 6.5 per cent on an annual basis.

On the other hand, India imported around 3.37 mt of LPG during March to May 2026, a decline of almost 40 per cent on an annual basis. India imported roughly 1.49 mt LPG from the US during the quarter ending May 31, 2026, a whopping growth of 1,556 per cent y-o-y from 0.09 mt in the year-ago period.

LPG imports fell sharply from above 2 mt per month in January-February 2026 to around 1-1.2 mt a month in March-May, with lower Middle Eastern availability partly offset by higher US inflows.

Washington, which was India’s fifth largest LPG supplier till January 2026, jumped a spot to become the fourth largest, replacing Kuwait a month later. However, the fresh conflict in West Asia (from February 28) propelled the North American country to become the top supplier to world’s second largest LPG consumer for three consecutive months, beginning March 2026.

On re-opening of the SoH, Ritolia said while India remains one of the largest importers of Middle Eastern hydrocarbons (crude, LPG, and LNG), crude and LNG imports have proven relatively resilient throughout the disruption, unlike LPG, which has been the most severely affected.

“As a result, the recovery is likely to be sequential, with LPG flows normalising first, followed by LNG and crude. Under our base case of a gradual reopening from early July, the initial focus will be on clearing trapped cargoes and restoring shipping flows before Gulf exporters can materially increase exports,” he anticipated.

Published on June 22, 2026