The LPG Shortage Crisis: Why Cooking Gas Is Running Out and What Comes Next
For hundreds of millions of households across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the LPG cylinder is not a convenience — it is the kitchen. It is how food gets cooked, how water gets boiled, how families eat. When the cylinder doesn't arrive, or when its price doubles overnight, it doesn't just affect the monthly budget. It changes what people eat, how long they spend on fuel collection, and — in the most vulnerable households — whether they eat at all.
In 2025 and into 2026, LPG shortages have become a recurring crisis across multiple countries simultaneously. The causes are layered — geopolitical, economic, logistical — and the solutions being proposed vary from government subsidies to solar cookers to piped gas networks. But the immediate reality for tens of millions of families is the same: the cylinder isn't there, and when it is, it costs more than they can afford.
What Is LPG and Why Do So Many People Depend on It?
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is primarily propane and butane, extracted as a byproduct of natural gas processing and crude oil refining. It is compressed into liquid form and stored in metal cylinders ranging from 5 kg to 19 kg for household use.
LPG became the cooking fuel of choice across the developing world over the past three decades for straightforward reasons: it burns cleanly, it is portable, it doesn't require pipeline infrastructure, and it is far safer and healthier than the traditional alternatives — firewood, dung cakes, and charcoal — which produce indoor air pollution responsible for millions of deaths annually.
The World Health Organisation estimates that indoor air pollution from solid fuels kills approximately 3.2 million people per year, mostly women and children who spend the most time near cooking fires. LPG adoption was one of the clearest public health successes of the 2000s and 2010s, particularly in India, where the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme distributed over 90 million subsidised connections to below-poverty-line households between 2016 and 2022.
The problem: LPG adoption created dependence on a supply chain that stretches from Middle Eastern refineries through global shipping networks to domestic distribution systems — and every link in that chain is now under stress.
Why the Shortage Is Happening Now
Global supply chain disruption
LPG is a byproduct, not a primary product. When oil and gas production fluctuates — due to OPEC production cuts, geopolitical instability in the Middle East, or shifts in refinery operations — LPG supply fluctuates with it. The 2022–2024 period saw multiple supply disruptions, from the Russia-Ukraine war's effect on European gas markets to conflicts affecting shipping routes through the Red Sea.
Shipping costs for LPG surged. The Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs) that move LPG across oceans saw freight rates spike sharply when Red Sea disruptions forced longer routing around the Cape of Good Hope. These costs pass through to import-dependent countries.
Currency depreciation in import-dependent nations
LPG is priced in US dollars on international markets. Countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, and several others have experienced significant currency depreciation against the dollar over the past three years. Even when the global price of LPG stabilises, the local-currency cost keeps rising.
For a household in Sri Lanka or Pakistan, a cylinder that cost the equivalent of two days' wages in 2020 now costs five or six days' wages. The product hasn't changed. The economics have.
Subsidy removal and price reform
Many governments kept LPG affordable through subsidies that became fiscally unsustainable as global prices rose. The IMF's structural adjustment conditions — often tied to debt relief packages — frequently include subsidy removal as a requirement. Countries receiving IMF assistance have had to raise domestic LPG prices sharply and rapidly.
Ghana, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Egypt, and several other countries underwent significant LPG price increases in 2023–2025 as part of fiscal consolidation programmes. The price adjustments were economically rational from a government balance sheet perspective. For households with no buffer, they were catastrophic.
India-specific issues
India presents a more nuanced picture. The government has maintained LPG subsidies — partially restored and expanded after being reduced — but distribution gaps persist. Key issues include:
- Cylinder availability in rural areas: Despite nearly universal LPG connections on paper, actual refill frequency is low in remote areas. Distributors face logistical costs that make rural delivery economically marginal, leading to delays, cylinder hoarding, and black market pricing.
- Subsidy leakage: The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system for LPG subsidies improved targeting but also reduced the number of households receiving support as below-poverty-line verification tightened.
- Price sensitivity: Even modest price increases push the poorest Ujjwala beneficiaries back to firewood. Studies have consistently found that refill rates among PMUY beneficiaries drop sharply when prices rise, even from subsidised levels.
- Cylinder black market: In shortage periods, cylinders officially priced at ₹800–900 are resold in informal markets at ₹1,200–1,500.
The Human Cost
Abstract supply chain analysis misses the lived experience of shortage.
In rural Jharkhand and Odisha, women who received Ujjwala connections and switched to LPG have been returning to firewood collection as refill costs become unaffordable. Firewood collection means 2–4 hours per day of labour, smoke-filled kitchens, and the respiratory illnesses that the Ujjwala scheme was designed to prevent.
In Bangladesh, urban middle-class families who had relied entirely on piped gas and LPG for years have been queuing for cylinders for hours, or cooking with electric induction cooktops — which themselves strain an already strained power grid.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the pattern is similar: a decade of LPG adoption driven by subsidised programmes is being reversed by price shocks, with households reverting to charcoal — which is more expensive per unit of energy than LPG but can be purchased in smaller increments that fit within a daily cash budget.
This is one of the cruelest aspects of energy poverty: the poor often pay more per unit of energy than the middle class, not because they are wasteful but because they cannot afford the upfront cost or bulk purchase that makes efficient energy sources affordable.
What Governments Are Doing
Responses vary considerably by country capacity and political will.
India has maintained and adjusted its subsidy structure, with the government periodically revising cylinder prices and DBT amounts. The challenge is ensuring the subsidy reaches actual users rather than being captured by intermediaries or lost to administrative gaps. Recent government initiatives have also focused on expanding piped gas networks (PNG) in urban areas, which is more reliable and cheaper than cylinder distribution at scale.
Bangladesh has rationed supply and increased prices while simultaneously pushing induction cooker subsidies — essentially trying to shift households from LPG to electric cooking using the expanding national grid.
Several African governments have tried targeted subsidies for low-income households, with mixed results. Universal subsidies benefit the middle class more than the poor (who use more LPG and have political voice). Targeted subsidies are administratively difficult to deliver efficiently.
Pakistan has struggled most visibly, with LPG prices more than tripling in some periods and cylinder availability collapsing in certain regions as dealers withhold stock anticipating further price increases.
The Longer-Term Solutions
No single solution resolves the LPG crisis. What's emerging is a portfolio of alternatives at different timescales.
Piped Natural Gas expansion
Where geography permits, piped gas is more reliable and cheaper than cylinder distribution. India's City Gas Distribution network has been expanding steadily. Households on PNG pay significantly less per unit of energy than cylinder users and aren't subject to the same supply shocks. The constraint is infrastructure investment time — building out urban gas networks takes years and capital.
Electric cooking and induction
If the electricity grid is reliable and affordable, induction cooking is highly energy-efficient and eliminates fuel supply chain vulnerability. The challenge in most developing countries is the grid itself — reliability, rural reach, and the cost of electric induction equipment. Battery storage advances are making off-grid electric cooking more feasible over time.
Biogas
Household biogas plants — using agricultural and kitchen waste — can provide cooking fuel for rural households with livestock. Several state governments in India subsidise biogas installations. The limitation is scale and the need for regular feedstock.
Improved biomass cookstoves
Not an ideal solution given the air quality implications, but improved cookstoves that burn biomass more efficiently and produce less smoke are a practical interim option for households that have genuinely run out of alternatives. Better than open fires; not as good as LPG or electric.
Solar cooking
Still niche but growing. Parabolic solar cookers work well in high-sunlight regions, require no fuel, and have zero operating cost. The barriers are behaviour change (cooking schedules tied to sunlight) and capital cost. Several NGOs and government programmes are piloting solar cooking at scale in India and Africa.
What It Means for Energy Policy
The LPG shortage crisis exposes a fundamental tension in energy transition policy.
The global push to decarbonise energy systems, led primarily by wealthy countries, focuses on replacing fossil fuels with renewables. But for hundreds of millions of households in the developing world, the relevant energy transition isn't from fossil fuels to renewables — it's from traditional biomass to anything cleaner. LPG, a fossil fuel, has been the primary vehicle for that transition.
Pushing developing countries to skip LPG and move directly to renewable-powered electric cooking is the correct long-term direction. It is also, in many places today, not practically feasible at the pace the climate requires. Rural electrification is incomplete. Grids are unreliable. Induction equipment is unaffordable. The alternative to LPG in these contexts isn't solar — it's firewood.
This is why energy policy in developing countries cannot simply import the frameworks designed for OECD economies. The policy toolkit needs to simultaneously support LPG access where it replaces biomass, invest in grid expansion and reliability, accelerate rural electrification, and make the eventual electric cooking transition as affordable as possible.
The LPG cylinder crisis isn't just a fuel supply story. It's a development story — about how fragile the gains of the past two decades are, and how much work remains before clean cooking is truly universal.
What You Can Do
If you're affected by rising LPG costs or availability issues:
- Check government subsidy status: In India, verify your Ujjwala or BPL subsidy status and DBT linkage at mylpg.in. Ensure your bank account is correctly linked.
- Compare distributor prices: In many areas, prices vary between authorised distributors. Registered distributors cannot legally charge above the set price.
- Report black market pricing: Overcharging by distributors can be reported to state food and civil supplies departments or the national consumer helpline.
- Consider piped gas if available: PNG is usually cheaper and more reliable than cylinder LPG in urban areas. Check availability in your area through IGL, MGL, or your city's gas distribution company.
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