The Strait Squeeze: Hormuz Disruptions and India's LNG/LPG Import Vulnerability

Introduction:

For years, India’s energy sector has been built on a quiet calculation and now the calculation is under severe stress. The Strait of Hormuz, which is a 33-kilometre- wide chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which nearly one-fifth of the world’s traded energy passes, has become the center of India’s gas security. New Delhi has sent our Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri to address this growing concern. He landed in Doha on April 9, for a two day visit that was more of a diplomatic rescue mission than a routine bilateral engagement. Since the outbreak of the West Asia Conflict in late February, Iranian strikes have damaged critical energy infrastructure in Qatar, and maritime movements along the Hormuz Strait have been significantly impacted. For India, a country that has been energy dependent, especially on the Gulf, the consequences of the strikes have hit immediately. 

Twenty-Five Years Relationship:

India’s LNG story began in Qatar, in 2004. The first ever LNG imports India planned was supposed to come from Ras Laffan, Qatar for the troubled Enron power plant in Dabhol which is now a collapsed project. Following this lead, India became Qatar’s largest LNG customer. According to oil economist Kirit Parikh, India imports around 50% of its LNG from international markets and roughly 40% of it is sourced from Qatar, making the gulf nation one of India’s most critical energy partners. Qatar’s importance extends beyond LNG, as the country produces LPG which is the cooking fuel that runs India’s kitchens and this is produced in its Gas to Liquids facility through natural gas processing. Qatar contributes around 30% of India’s LPG imports and when Iran struck Qatar’s energy infrastructure, it did not just disrupt an industrial commodity, it threatened our everyday Indian household fuel that 300 million Indians depend on. 

The Rate of Damage:

Saad al-Kaabi, the head of QatarEnergy, said that Iranian attacks hit two of Qatar's fourteen LNG production units and one of its two places that turn gas into liquids. This damage has stopped about 12.8 million tonnes of LNG from being produced each year, which is almost 17 percent of all the LNG Qatar usually exports. QatarEnergy has already said it can't fulfill its long term LNG supply deals for up to five years and this is impacting shipments to places like Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China. Even though India wasn't named directly, it's still one of the main countries that buys LNG from Qatar. But the problem isn't just about making enough gas. A big quantity, about 80 to 85 percent, of India's imported cooking gas (LPG) goes through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial narrow waterway that's been central to the current fighting. Only three out of five loading spots at Ras Laffan are working, meaning they can only load 60% of what they used to. And even if a ship is fully loaded, it still has to deal with the dangers of the strait itself. 

Mr. Puri in Doha: What Was the deal?

When Minister Puri visited, he talked with Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister for State of Energy, who is the Minister of State for Energy Affairs and also the President and CEO of QatarEnergy. Both ministers welcomed the two week ceasefire declared on April 8, and they emphasized how important it was to bring stability back to the world's energy markets quickly and energy supplies to keep flowing without interruption and for global supply chains to work smoothly. They also stressed the absolute necessity of keeping important shipping routes like the Hormuz open for global energy trade.

The talks weren't just for show because important things were discussed. The visit to Qatar covered many topics at once like, making sure LNG supplies would be secure for the long term, looking at the details and schedules of current contracts between Indian state energy companies and QatarEnergy, planning for possible emergency supplies for both ends and discussing how to ensure Indian flagged ships could safely pass through the strait. India has already gotten special permission for some ships to pass through, for example, two LPG carriers run by the Shipping Corporation of India were allowed to go through the strait recently. But these deals were made one by one and not as a sign that the route was fully open again. Part of the reason for the visit was maybe to try and change these one off arrangements into lasting agreements and deals. 

India's Hedging Strategy:

India isn’t just sitting around waiting for diplomatic talks to work because Indian companies have already started buying a lot more from other places, like the United States, Australia, and Russia, so they don't rely too much on just one supplier or shipping path. The government has also tried to protect people at home. The Ministry of Petroleum confirmed that the supply of cooking gas (LPG) within the country is still steady, with 5.35 million cylinders delivered on April 7 alone. Also, orders have gone up by about 95 percent, and deliveries through regular channels have increased by roughly 91 percent to make sure gas doesn't get sidetracked. As a symbolic gesture, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority welcomed an Indian ship called Green Asha, carrying 15,400 tonnes of LPG. It successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz, being the first such ship to cross the strait and reach the port since the war started. It was a small but clear sign that the route, even though it's dangerous, isn't completely shut down, especially for friendly countries. 

The Geopolitical Complication:

What makes things more complicated isn't just about Qatar and India; it's also about Qatar and Iran's relationship. Qatar's North Field and Iran's South Pars are actually two parts of the same huge gas field. The two countries really depend on each other and this makes this conflict seem even stranger. Iran is attacking gas facilities that are built over a field it shares with the very country it's hurting. India's diplomatic efforts are very much linked to the growing vulnerabilities in the country. Puri's visit happened just days after a shaky two week ceasefire was announced between the US and Iran. This brought some temporary calm but didn't offer much certainty for the future path of conflict. At the same time, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited the UAE. This showed the same thinking that India is urgently using every possible way to deal with the situation in the Gulf, all at once, because the crisis has reached the gates of our country. We can already see the bigger economic problems arising because of the conflict. The rupee dropped to a record low of 95 against the dollar earlier in 2026 when the conflict got worse. Foreign investments leaving the country have reached Rs 1.27 lakh crore this year, and crude oil prices were much higher on Indian trading markets. 

Looking Ahead:

India purchased about 25.5 million tonnes of LNG in 2025, and the government wants natural gas to make up 15 percent of the country's main energy sources by 2030. But now, that goal is to deal with a strait, which most of that gas travels through and it isn't safe anymore. The agreement about Hormuz that will eventually allow Qatar to start sending LNG and LPG to India again won't just be one document signed in one meeting. Instead, it will come from careful diplomacy that will involve many countries, making sure the ceasefire holds, setting schedules for fixing damaged infrastructure, and negotiating shipping routes. All of this will take months and years to work out and Puri's visit to Doha was just the start. It signaled that India isn't going to just wait and hope that the tankers somehow make it through. But the tough job of making sure India has stable energy supplies in a time of constant global unrest has only just begun.