For four days, Maya Rani, 36, has been arriving each morning at a gas distributor\u2019s office in Delhi, her six-month-old daughter in her lap, waiting for hours. And each day she returns home empty-handed, told that a cooking gas cylinder may not be available for at least another week. Around her, the queue keeps growing, people clutching forms and documents, hoping to secure a cylinder.<\/p>\n
The flame in her kitchen began to fade last week and her husband, as he always does, took their 5kg cylinder to a local refiller. This time, there was nothing. The only option left was to apply for a government-subsidised supply, a process that has meant repeated visits, long waits and no certainty.<\/p>\n
Maya Rani (in green) waits outside a gas distributor\u2019s office with her six-month-old daughter as she tries to secure a cooking gas cylinder. Photograph: Aakash Hassan<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like crying,\u201d Rani said, sitting on the pavement outside the distributor\u2019s office, trying to soothe her child. \u201cWe have been waiting for days and still don\u2019t know when we will get gas.\u201d Her husband cannot afford to miss work, so she makes the rounds. \u201cWe are eating just one meal a day from outside. I\u2019ve had to ask neighbours to help boil milk for my baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rani\u2019s experience is being echoed across south Asia, where disruption to supplies of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) triggered by the closure of the strait of Hormuz<\/a> has pushed the region into its worst gas crisis in decades. Prices have surged, industries have been forced to scale back or shut, and anxiety is spreading.<\/p>\n Before the Iran conflict in effect shut the narrow maritime chokepoint, it carried about a fifth of global fuel shipments, much of it bound for Asia.<\/p>\n In India<\/a>, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where LPG is central to everyday cooking, the impact has been immediate. Slowing imports have strained distribution systems, prompting governments to prioritise household supply and restrict commercial use. The crisis has exposed a deeper weakness: a region with rising energy demand remains heavily dependent on supply routes vulnerable to distant geopolitical shocks.<\/p>\n People queue to refill their empty LPG cylinders at a gas agency office in Delhi. Photograph: Rajat Gupta\/EPA<\/p>\n \u201cThis level of exposure was absolutely anticipated,\u201d said Akhtar Malik, of the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (Brief), a thinktank in Delhi. \u201cThe strait of Hormuz as a chokepoint and the risks it poses have been extensively studied and debated for years.\u201d<\/p>\n But across South Asia, efforts to build buffers or diversify supply have lagged, leaving little room to absorb shocks. \u201cIndia built strategic crude reserves but did not create equivalent buffers for LPG,\u201d Malik said. \u201cGlobally, energy systems typically maintain 40 to 60 days of reserve cover for critical fuels. India, in contrast, has just over 20 days of LPG storage \u2026 the current stress is as much a planning gap as it is a supply disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n India imports about 60% of its LPG, 90% of that routed through the strait of Hormuz. Only two cargoes<\/a> have made it through since the strait closed, a fraction of daily demand.<\/p>\n A demonstrator is detained by police at a protest in Delhi last week over the LPG shortage and price hikes. Photograph: Rajat Gupta\/EPA<\/p>\n With supplies from elsewhere \u2013 such as from the US \u2013 taking weeks to arrive and at significantly higher cost, the Indian government has moved to stretch domestic supply. Refineries have been directed to maximise LPG production for household use and supplies have been prioritised for hospitals and educational institutions, leaving businesses scrambling.<\/p>\n