While the Middle East war is choking global oil supplies, Iran has granted rare passage to Indian ships carrying household fuel.
Three Indian Navy warships are currently in the Gulf of Oman escorting the merchant vessel Shivalik, a very large gas carrier that passed through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday amid heightened tensions and severe disruption to commercial shipping.
“They crossed the Strait of Hormuz early morning safely and are en route to India,” Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary of the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, told reporters in New Delhi.
Speaking in New Delhi on Saturday, Iran’s ambassador to India, Mohammad Fathali, said Tehran had permitted some Indian ships to transit the strait. However, he declined to say how many vessels had been granted safe passage.
Fathali was addressing a conclave organised by the India Today Group, where he suggested the exemptions reflected the close ties between Tehran and New Delhi even as the crisis in the Gulf has brought much of the world’s energy traffic to a halt.
One possible explanation being discussed is that some ships may have been permitted after India repatriated Iranian sailors who had been forced to remain docked in Kochi.
The Shivalik, owned by the Shipping Corporation of India, is carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and is heading for Mundra Port, where it is expected to dock on March 16. The naval vessels are sailing in close proximity to the tanker as it makes its way towards the Indian coast.
Another Indian very large gas carrier, Nanda Devi, also owned by the Shipping Corporation of India, crossed into the Gulf of Oman yesterday after transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It is believed the two tankers will be escorted back to India by Indian naval ships as they proceed across the Arabian Sea.
Iran has said it will not permit energy supplies destined for the United States or its allies to leave the strait, a move that has effectively halted most commercial traffic through one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.
However, India has sought exemptions to allow its vessels to transit the waterway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that he had spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and that the two leaders discussed the safe movement of goods and energy supplies from the Gulf.
Around one fifth of global oil trade passes through the strait. For India, the route is even more vital. Roughly 60–65 per cent of India’s crude oil imports and a substantial share of its liquefied petroleum gas supplies originate from Gulf producers such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar, with most cargoes transiting Hormuz.
Any sustained disruption to shipping through the strait therefore poses a major risk to India’s energy security. LPG is particularly exposed because India imports a very large percentage of its LPG needs, most of it sourced from Gulf suppliers.
Both the Shivalik and Nanda Devi can carry roughly 45,000 metric tonnes of LPG, enough to fill about one million 14.2 kg domestic cooking gas cylinders used in Indian households. However, India’s demand is so large that the country would require roughly 30 such cargoes each month to meet its imported LPG requirements.
Meanwhile, maritime tracking sources suggest that thousands of commercial vessels remain stranded inside the Persian Gulf, unable to safely exit through the Strait of Hormuz as the conflict continues to disrupt shipping in the region.
The government has also urged households not to rush out and stockpile LPG cylinders as concerns grow over supplies. Officials say consumers who already have access to piped natural gas (PNG) should rely on that instead of holding on to backup LPG cylinders.
In a move aimed at easing pressure on supplies, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Saturday that it has amended its LPG supply rules to prevent households with PNG connections from retaining, obtaining or refilling domestic LPG cylinders.
Under the revised order, government run oil companies will no longer issue LPG connections or refills to consumers who already receive piped gas at home, the ministry said in a statement.
Officials say the measure is intended to ensure that LPG supplies remain available for households that depend entirely on cylinders for cooking fuel.