New Delhi: India’s efforts to diversify LPG supplies have gained momentum after state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) made its first-ever spot purchases from the American market, a top company official said, as the country seeks to reduce dependence on West Asia amid ongoing conflict in the region.
The development assumes significance as India imports 60-65% of its annual liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) requirement of 33 million tonnes, with nearly 90% of these imports sourced from West Asia, making it vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions amid the ongoing US-Iran tensions in the region.
Although the mobilization period from the US is about 45 days, cargoes from North America would ease supply crunch faced by the world’s second-largest LPG importer, said VRK Gupta, director (finance) at BPCL.
“For the first time, BPCL has procured 2 US cargoes of LPG on spot purchase basis which have arrived in the month of May 2026. Hence, even if it takes about 90 days (to and fro), cargoes from the US will ease the supply scenario,” Gupta told Mint in an interview.
These are very large gas carriers (VLGC), with a capacity of 45,000-48,000 tonnes.
BPCL’s LPG business accounts for about 28% of the country’s liquefied petroleum gas market, covering 93.5 million cylinder connections.
in the country as it is used for cooking by nearly 340 million households. As the conflict in West Asia intensified in March, India has sought to manage demand through a mandatory booking interval of 25 days in urban areas and 45 days in rural areas.
The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has significantly hit India’s LPG imports as West Asia supplied 90% of India’s overall imports prior to the war that began on 28 February. Over the past year, India has diversified its import sources to include the US and Norway, while Canada is also emerging as an alternative supplier of LPG.
OMCs sign US deal
The three oil marketing companies (OMCs)—BPCL, Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)—signed a deal to import 2.2 million tonnes of LPG from the US, as they look to ramp up imports from the US in the wake of the .
Gupta added that BPCL’s spot crude oil purchases at higher prices have risen to 55% of total imports over the past two months, up from 45% in the pre-war period.
“When we started the last fiscal, procurement of crude through long term contracts was around 55%, and spot purchase around 45%. In the past two months, term crude procurement has come down with the spot procurement being around 55 to 65% depending on the supply situation,” he said.
“As long as the conflict scenario continues, this trend of higher spot purchases may continue,” Gupta added.
Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iraq were among the top suppliers of oil to India prior to the war. Traditionally, West Asia accounted for 60-70% of India’s oil imports. However, the war has disrupted these supplies totally.
BPCL, India’s second-largest state-run refiner, operates 25,300 fuel outlets, or about a quarter of the country’s retail network, and has an annual crude requirement of around 40 million tonnes (mt).
BPCL plans to add over 1,000 fuel retail pumps to its network in FY27, Shubhankar Sen, director (marketing), said.
“Last year (FY26) we added about 1,700 fuel stations taking the total count to 25,300 fuel stations. This year the company may add 1,000-plus fuel stations, as we are looking into newer regions with more potential,” Sen said.
He noted that BPCL’s fuel sales rose to 54.18 million tonnes in the last fiscal from 52.40 million tonne in FY25.
On Tuesday, the company reported a nearly two-fold jump in net profit to ₹25,843.45 crore in FY26, up from ₹13,336.55 crore in FY25. Revenue from operations rose to ₹5.22 trillion in FY26, compared with ₹5 trillion in the previous year.
Net profit for the quarter ended March rose 28% year-on-year to ₹4,391.83 crore, while declining 21.7% sequentially.
On the financial performance of the company in FY26, Gupta said: “The revenue and profit growth can be attributed to healthy refinery performance, crude throughput, growth in product sales and robust treasury functions.”