What is LPG and why is there a shortage?

India’s LPG Crisis Explained: Strait of Hormuz, Iran Conflict, and Why Restaurants Are Affected

The episode explains how the Iran-related conflict around the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting shipments of oil and LPG that India relies on for cooking gas, since most supplies arrive by ship through the strait. It notes India imports over 60% of its LPG, with major sources including Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the US, and describes concerns as LPG stocks are low, especially affecting restaurants that need gas to operate. While India has about 70 days of crude oil reserves, it has less than two days of LPG reserve because LPG is difficult to store, leading the government to prioritize households and educational institutions over restaurants for deliveries. The discussion also covers India’s efforts to diversify LPG imports and ends with a quiz about Iran’s highest authority being the Supreme Leader.

00:00 Intro and Setup
00:18 What Is LPG
01:09 Hormuz Blockade Explained
01:54 Where India Gets LPG
03:09 Crude Oil Basics and Imports
06:11 India’s Diplomatic Tightrope
09:27 Reserves and Why LPG Is Scarce
10:56 Rationing and Restaurant Impact
12:59 Ripple Effects Across Economy
14:03 Classroom Activities and Resources
15:39 This Week’s Quiz Question
17:04 Last Week’s Answer and Winner
18:24 Wrap Up and Goodbye

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Transcript

Debkanya 0:00

Mics. Camera. Action. A very, very good morning, good evening, good afternoon to you, depending on when you are logging in to listen to us. Or no, not good night. Not good night, because I hope you're not going off to bed. Today we are talking about, the LPG crisis. Now don't worry, it's not boring. It's a very, very interesting topic. In fact, it's one of those things that impacts, one very important aspect of our lives and which is the food that we eat on a daily basis. Everything that we cook, um, of course, unless you're using an electric stove or an oven, everything that we cook is usually cooked on, uh, a stove that uses LPG. LPG is nothing but the gas that is. That helps you light the flame in your kitchen.

Kiran 0:49

What's the full form of LPG, Debbie?

Debkanya 0:52

Liquefied petroleum gas.

Kiran 0:55

Good job.

Debkanya 0:56

I get it right?

Kiran 0:57

comes from

Debkanya 0:57

you.

Kiran 0:58

same oil. Everything starts as oil and then gets processed into LPG, into petrol, into diesel, into kerosene. So all of it is from that same single product.

Debkanya 1:08

Exactly. And remember we told you there is a conflict that's been going on in that part of the world where most of our oil and gas comes from. And we are talking about Iran and we are talking specifically about the Strait of Hormuz. Was part of our, that was our quiz question actually for the last episode, so I'm not gonna say too much more. But yes, that area is where most of our gas comes through. India actually, imports, I think 60%, more than 60% of its overall lPG supplies, 90% of which actually comes through that Strait of Hormuz, which is currently being blocked by Iran because it is fighting with, with the US and therefore also targeting all the countries that are supporting the United States.

Kiran 1:53

It's very interesting actually. If you break down the countries that it comes from, actually the largest LPG you know, country that we get LPG from is actually Qatar. Uh, Qatar actually gives us about 30 odd percent of our LPG imports, UAE, another 25% odd Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and then actually US. US is our fifth largest sort of source of LPG today.

Debkanya 2:24

Yeah. And, and all of this is blocked. Why? Because most of this LPG or the supplies, the oil and gas supplies come to us through ships on ships, right? And all these ships are now stuck. They cannot cross over. And therefore they cannot reach us. A lot of people are worried because LPG supplies are low in the country. We have to start conserving and saving this gas because, you know, if you don't have it, then people won't be able to cook. One of the industries that is most affected by this, uh, is restaurants, because, I mean. As we know, restaurants have to cook all day, right? For, to make sure that you can order all the amazing food that you usually do. And for that LPG or pipe gas is one of the most essential, things that they need to keep running.

Kiran 3:09

Yeah, so if we actually, you know, go back a little bit If you think about India's Imports, we are actually the third largest

Debkanya 3:19

crude

Kiran 3:20

importer in the world.

Debkanya 3:22

What is crude?

Kiran 3:24

Crude oil is basically where it, as I said, everything comes from oil. So that first version of what you extract from the earth crude oil. Then it goes into refineries, which basically refine that crude oil into different products. It could be petrol, it could be kerosene, it could be diesel, it could be LPG. It could be many other things. You know, there are many products that are used in the paints industry or in the, you know, manufacturing industry. So there are different products that come from crude oil. And if you think about it, everything starts from crude oil. In fact, if you look at India's, um, you know, crude oil imports, uh, by source, In 2024, at least, Russia was our biggest, source of crude oil. so

Debkanya 4:14

That got stopped.

Kiran 4:16

It got stopped. But now we've got a, you know, a break from the US

Debkanya 4:20

We've got permission.

Kiran 4:22

from the US to get oil again from Russia. Um, so about 37% of our oil comes from Russia. You know, one of the other big sources is actually Iraq. Iraq actually is a big,

Debkanya 4:37

surprising.

Kiran 4:38

for

Debkanya 4:38

Hmm.

Kiran 4:38

crude oil, followed by Saudi Arabia, UAE. Now, all of these countries that we're talking about, whether it is Qatar, UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, all of them are in that area around Iran. And so they're all in the center of the conflict region, apart from Russia, apart from US. But um, you know, all the others are in the center of this conflict region. Just go look at the map, you'll see, you know how all of these countries, they share that same Strait of Hormuz, which is where ships have to pass through. And that Strait of Hormuz is controlled by Iran, like we were mentioning the last time. So. Iran has basically, you know, threatened to shut down that Strait, not allow ships

Debkanya 5:25

It has. It has in a way. Yeah, it has. Yeah.

Kiran 5:29

And which means. Oil and, crude oil from Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, all of them stop. if India is dependent so much on these folks, then it becomes a really, really big issue. Right. What's, what's interesting though is India has actually started to kind of try and reduce the strain from these regions because, they're looking at you know, diversifying or LPG imports specifically from Australia, Algeria, Canada, and the US. So, which is why US's, you know, import quantity is increasing. This is also a deal that we struck with the US.

Debkanya 6:10

And we have to do that. So far, India has actually played a very, very diplomatic role in this entire conflict. It's constantly been about not taking sides, and, you know, making sure that we are not part of this. So we don't want to get involved. We want to mediate and ensure that people, we arrive at a peaceful, resolution to this problem. Uh, so we'll help you, you know, become maybe, you know, work together again, but we don't wanna be involved so therefore we don't want to be affected. It's very tough not to be affected in a situation like this. But you know, the other thing that's also happened is Iran has actually given permission to a couple of Indian tankers that are bringing oil from in through the Strait of Hormuz.

Kiran 6:48

Yeah.

Debkanya 6:49

Which is extremely important and, and a signal again to say that india's not part of this. So we will let you through.

Kiran 6:55

Of a double-edged sword, right? Because you know, the, the, the reason Iran is opening it up to countries like India, a India is not directly involved in this conflict. B Iran doesn't continue to send crude oil, because even Iran is a exporter of oil, right? If they don't allow it for themselves, they don't get revenue, they don't make

Debkanya 7:19

Yeah,

Kiran 7:20

So they have

Debkanya 7:21

absolutely.

Kiran 7:21

able to send, Oil and their sort of product to other parts of the world. So they are doing it also from a selfish perspective to make sure that their money keeps coming in and their revenue keeps coming in because it is one of the largest sources of revenue for Iran. So I would say it's not just about, you know, collaboration, but it's also a little bit of economics that's involved because Iran does need to make money at this point of time to Sustain itself.

Debkanya 7:45

And that's how the world goes round ultimately. Right? The whole world started off, with barter. So you could say this is in a way. It's the same thing. You, I will let your ships through, you pay me. Then I can use that to take care of my people to buy more weapons for this war that I'm fighting with the biggest superpower in the world, or to repair the damages that are being done in the country right now? Because you know a lot of, like what Trump just said, Donald Trump, the US President has just come out and said that, Hey, you know what? There isn't much left in Iran for us to target and bomb anymore. We've kind of destroyed all the important places. So this war is going to come to an end very soon. That's pretty much what he said, so, right. Who's going to repair all of this? That is also something Iran has to look out for. And in fact, Iran's leaders have come out and actually released a statement very recently. So Basically they've just come out and said that we want to make sure, you know, we will only stop this war and we'll stop the bombing of all these neighboring countries. If, uh, we are guaranteed that our, you know, we will get our rights back. And if actually the US comes in and, uh, starts, uh, making reparations for all the damage that they have caused in the country, you know, all the infrastructure, all the building, yeah. They have to pay for it and they have to fix it. Right. So these are some of the demands that they've actually made right now. So, let's see. I don't know where that's going to go. Again, everyone wants this war to end quickly I don't think anyone can really predict how long it's gonna go on for at this stage.

Kiran 9:09

Yeah. And it's also tough for the US to kind of back out because they've already made such a big fuss about it. And even if the US wants to back off a little bit, you know, Trump. Israel is still using this as a great way to kind of go out and attack Iran and, really decimate as much of Iran as possible. But coming back to the whole LPG and the crude oil piece, right, is why it's so important to understand or to basically look at where all of this is going. Um, if you look at India from a oil perspective, India's crude oil is actually not too bad. We are not in a really bad place because India's

Debkanya 9:49

Hmm.

Kiran 9:49

oil reserves, which means, you know, we store, we keep it. It's stored across many underground caverns, refineries, floating platforms that are actually floating platforms in areas in India where we are actually storing crude oil, and that actually apparently the reserves can last up to 70 days. So we

Debkanya 10:09

Hmm.

Kiran 10:09

70 days of domestic demand that has been accounted for from a crude oil perspective. But LPG we only have less than two days of reserve. And, and the fundamental reason is because LPG is actually much tougher to store. is much tougher to kind of, uh, stockpile. If you think about it, your cylinders, how much it takes to store them. The plants that require are required to kind of compress LPG into those gas cylinders, then make sure it's stored properly. It doesn't, it's extremely flammable. So it's very, very tough to store LPG. And that's why this actually is a big concern. And if you think about it, you know, restaurants, households, educational institutions. So the government of India has actually now said that restaurants are gonna be deprioritized from an LPG. Delivery perspective, households will get the first priority and educational

Debkanya 11:07

Yeah.

Kiran 11:08

they will get the first priorities for LPG and then a couple of others. But restaurants and other nice to haves will basically be downgraded from a prioritization perspective for the next few days at least, until the next announcement is made.

Debkanya 11:22

Which means, again, you know, as, as we were saying in the beginning, it's all about conserving during times of conflict. We have to make sure that we are using our resources well and smartly. We save for a time when you don't have, uh, those resources easily available. So right now, that's the situation. Maybe you'll see some of your favorite restaurants might not be serving or might just have to take a break for some time, uh, before they are back up again.

Kiran 11:49

And, and this kind of, you know, reminds of, I don't know, a little bit of like COVID times when there were certain restrictions and you couldn't buy from certain places and not all restaurants were open. Maybe it'll come to that. Who knows? I don't know. Let's see where it

Debkanya 12:05

I hope not. I really hope not, because that affected so many people's lives, and it's not just about us who sit at home and want to order food in or go out and have a nice meal. It's about the people who are working in these restaurants, right, and right from the chef.

Kiran 12:19

Yeah.

Debkanya 12:20

The cooks, the business owners, the waiters, the staff, the cleaner, uh, everyone is affected every time a business has to close its doors, right, on a daily basis, they get affected. So yeah, it's something that we have to be sensitive and mindful of, that it's not just you, there are people around who are getting affected by this.

Kiran 12:38

Let's hope this kind of, uh, you know, changes, the situation changes over the next week or so. We will keep you posted and, obviously all of this is to do with the Iran conflict, so hopefully that stops as well, or you know, people see the light of day and some sort of peace, in that area. I know that people in the Gulf region are looking for respite as well because they're not even involved in this, but they're still seeing missiles

Debkanya 13:06

Yeah.

Kiran 13:07

pass by and, you know, events are getting canceled, tourism is taking a hit. Even simple things like because of this oil crisis, flight tickets are super expensive because airline fuel is one of the most highly refined. of crude oil. So it

Debkanya 13:24

Yeah.

Kiran 13:25

lot of money. Way more than one liter of, uh, you know, petrol or diesel that you and I fill. It costs way, way more. So any such crunch will affect flight prices and tourism and hotels. So, so, you know, just think about the repercussions of so many different industries. The moment you can't travel to Goa, or you can't travel to your new holiday destination because prices are too high, then the hotels over there, the resorts over there start suffering. Now, if they don't have LPG, they can't feed you either. So, you know, it's so many different sort of what you call the butterfly

Debkanya 14:01

Interconnected systems.

Kiran 14:03

exactly. Which, which very often we don't think about, but maybe it's a good exercise for, for you all to do in your class or with your friends, you know, find all the connected, you know, aspects of life.

Debkanya 14:15

In fact, what a fun experiment. You could even start with. Say for example, uh, what if you started buying, um, less notebooks? Who's affected by by this one decision of yours, what gets affected? Or what if you said, maybe, what if I use, uh, less water? That could also take you down this rabbit hole of where the water comes from, where the supply comes from. How do you pay for it? How does it impact people? Who gets access to the water that you are not wasting? So many different ways to actually approach this, to understand how things are connected and impacted by every action that we take.

Kiran 14:54

And talking about exercises. We have just started a new initiative called

Debkanya 14:59

Where you have to do 10 jumping jacks every time you listen to us.

Kiran 15:03

Excellent. Well. Whoever wants to listen to Debbie can. everyone else,

Debkanya 15:08

think it's a good exercise.

Kiran 15:10

classroom resources on our website now. So every episode we will create a simple classroom resource for that particular topic, which has exercises, which gives you definitions, you know, which gives you certain quiz questions other than the single one that we ask. So it kind of gives you a lot more insight into this particular topic that we are covering. And so go

Debkanya 15:30

Yeah.

Kiran 15:30

out on takarokids.com because India is the second largest LPG consumer in the world. And so it is a very, very, very big deal for us. Maybe we can get to the relevant quiz question, Debbie, for this week's episode.

Debkanya 15:44

The quiz question. I mean, it's not gonna be about LPG specifically, but it is still about Iran and the conflict that we're seeing right now.

Kiran 15:52

Hmm.

Debkanya 15:52

We have talked about this in previous episodes, so I thought I'll bring it back to see if you've been paying attention. What type of leader holds the highest authority in Iran? Okay.

Kiran 16:06

The leader.

Debkanya 16:06

What is that leader called? Options are number one. Is it the king? Number two, is it the Prime Minister? Number three? Is it the Supreme Leader or number four? Is it the Sheikh? Okay.

Kiran 16:20

a pretty easy question this

Debkanya 16:22

Fairly easy. Yes.

Kiran 16:23

so we expect a lot of responses because will find one lucky winner. Who will basically get a, the Karo Kids T-shirt and a gift certificate. That person, all that person has to do is send a response and your answer to takarokids.com. Go to our website, fill in the form with your details, or send an Instagram direct message to us. Ask your parents to do that. You don't do that. Ask your parents to do that. And, uh, one lucky winner will get these prizes.. In fact, we are going to talk about last week's quiz question and the winner.

Debkanya 17:04

last week was, again, like we said, I mean, that's the topic, right? But it was again to do with geography. Okay, which two important water bodies are connected by the Strait of Hormuz? And the options that we'd given you were option one was Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Option two was the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Option three was the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. And option four was Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara And the correct answer is Kiran.

Kiran 17:36

Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman

Debkanya 17:38

Well done

Kiran 17:38

Woo. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Do I win the prize? No,

Debkanya 17:42

you want.

Kiran 17:44

Debbie knows how much I've been geeking out on AI. And so what I did was, uh, built an app, which we put in all the right answers into, and then, uh, you know, it does this spin the wheel. I don't know if any of y'all have, or all of y'all have seen the spin the wheel thing. You spin and has the names, and the one that it on is a winner. So this week's winner is Sarayu Krishnamurthy from Bangalore. Congratulations.

Debkanya 18:12

Congrats Sarayu!

Kiran 18:14

So keep listening and, be like, Sarayu, you send in your answer. What you will basically get again is a gift certificate and Takaro Kids kids t-shirt. Until next week, this is,

Debkanya 18:27

time to say

Kiran 18:29

bye.

Debkanya 18:31

goodbye.