Oil & Gas

The government will block gasoline shipments abroad from April 1 through July 31, preventing exporters from selling Russian gasoline overseas. This restriction limits foreign buyers' access to Russian gasoline and forces importers to secure alternative suppliers. The measure prioritizes domestic supply and reduces export volumes while in force.

Iran now limits commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz to vessels from designated 'friendly' states, including India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Iraq. Vessels from the U.S., Israel and some Gulf states are excluded, effectively blocking their passage. The restriction narrows available shipping access and keeps overall tanker traffic through the strait drastically reduced.

The reduction lowers the special additional excise on petrol and scraps the diesel levy, creating fiscal/headroom that oil marketing companies (OMCs) can use to absorb rising crude costs. This constrains the change to stabilising retail prices rather than delivering immediate consumer price cuts. Consequently, it is now harder for consumers to see near-term reductions at the pump even as crude remains elevated.

Exporters must pay Rs 21.5 per litre on diesel and Rs 29.5 per litre on ATF, adding a binding per‑unit cost to outbound shipments. That reduces refiners' export margins or forces higher export prices, making diesel and ATF exports less profitable and likely to slow.

City gas distributors must provision piped natural gas to residential schools, colleges, hostels and similar facilities within five days, subject to infrastructure feasibility. They must submit a connectivity compliance report after five days and then daily. This makes rapid last‑mile hookups and continuous reporting operationally mandatory, increasing deployment and reporting pressure on CGDs.

By passing on input-cost increases, Nayara requires its retail outlets to charge higher fuel rates, reducing their accumulated losses. This makes it harder for private retailers to sustain frozen prices and causes uneven effective hikes across states because local VAT alters the final increase.

Iran asserts sovereign control over the Strait and has limited authorized passage to five named ‘friendly’ states, establishing state-managed access. This restricts open, routine navigation and makes third‑party commercial transit dependent on Tehran’s permission. Immediate consequence: international shipping through Hormuz remains constrained and faces increased legal and operational uncertainty.

City gas distributors will notify eligible households by registered post and households must apply to become PNG subscribers within three months. If they fail to apply, their LPG supply will be discontinued, making LPG access restricted and PNG subscription required. A city gas distributor can issue a no-objection certificate if a PNG connection is technically infeasible, which preserves LPG supply.

UK forces can now board vessels in British waters that are on the UK's sanctions list, enabling direct interdiction of the shadow fleet. This restricts the effectiveness of false flags and opaque ownership within UK jurisdiction and requires additional naval and law-enforcement boarding capacity.

By suspending long-term freight contracts and urging spot pricing, transporters render fixed-rate agreements temporarily unenforceable and shift costs to market rates. This makes budgeted logistics costs and contract performance harder to uphold, increases short-term price volatility, and requires immediate payment clearances and ad hoc financial support to prevent service deterioration.

An unforeseeable fluid release ignited an explosion that forced shutdown of multiple core process units, including distillation, hydrotreaters, FCC, hydrocracker, cokers, sulfur recovery, reformer and alkylation. Those unit outages block normal diesel and gasoline production and make resuming refinery operations dependent on coordinated multi-unit restart work, with no restart date set. The loss of water and steam during firefighting further constrained immediate recovery actions.

The declaration grants the government one-year powers to procure and prepay fuel, form a coordinating committee, and act against hoarding, profiteering and supply manipulation. It requires active government intervention in fuel sourcing and distribution and restricts market actors through enforceable measures, increasing regulatory control over petroleum supply chains.