Indian oil companies secure their first-ever deal to import U.S. LPG into India

India’s public-sector oil companies have successfully concluded a one-year deal to import liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from the U.S. Gulf coast, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday (November 17, 2025).

In his post on X, Mr. Puri elaborated that India would source about 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of liquified petroleum gas from the U.S. Gulf Coast for the contract year 2026 — making it the “first structured contract of U.S. LPG for the Indian market”.

He further said that the 2.2 MTPA LPG import would represent 10% of India’s annual imports in the sector during the mentioned period.

“The purchase is based on using Mount Belvieu as the benchmark for LPG purchases and a team of our officials from Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum had visited the U.S. and engaged in discussions with major U.S. producers over the last few months, which have concluded now,” he stated.

The announcement come against the backdrop of India facing 50% tariffs on its exports to the U.S., which also includes a 25% penalty for procuring Russian oil, and several Indian ministers’ statements that India would like to import more energy from the U.S.

Separately, responding to queries from the press about the LPG deal earlier in the day, India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said the LPG deal was not part of the ongoing negotiations for a favourable trade deal with the U.S., he did say it was part of an overall effort to achieve more balanced trade between India and U.S.

The wide and growing trade deficit, the US has with India is a major driver behind the initial 25% tariffs US President Donald Trump had imposed on imports from India.

“This is in the overall context of keeping trade with the US in the right mix,” Mr. Agrawal told reporters, adding, “It’s not part of any negotiation package per se, but it is definitely a part of our endeavour to have balanced trade between the US and India.”

He further said that the LPG had been in the works “for long”.

“This was not something new,” Mr. Agrawal said. “India has been contemplating getting LPG from the US. The opportunity was not there earlier. It has now come and we have contracted out LPG for the first time to the US.”

(With inputs from TCA Sharad Raghavan)