New Delhi, Mar 19:The government has declared energy data a national security priority, ordering all oil and gas players—refiners, LNG importers, pipeline operators, city gas distributors, and petrochemical firms, public or private—to submit detailed operational stats to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), sometimes daily.
This new Petroleum and Natural Gas (Furnishing of Information) Order, 2026, overrides confidentiality clauses, demanding real-time reports on production, imports, stocks, and consumption to sharpen responses to disruptions like the Middle East war that’s choked the Strait of Hormuz—India’s lifeline for 88% of crude, 50% of gas, and 60% of LPG from Saudi, Iraq, and UAE.
With the strait effectively shut, crude’s partially rerouted from Russia, Africa, US, and Latin America, but gas and LPG shortages are squeezing power, fertilizers, and households. The move builds a centralized dashboard for quick prioritization, smarter buying, and supply chain grip—under the 1955 Essential Commodities Act—to shield against geopolitical whiplash.
Industry must now upgrade systems fast; no more hiding behind “proprietary” excuses—it’s daily/weekly/monthly uploads via PPAC platforms, covering everyone from crude importers to city gas networks. Officials say this visibility is key to energy independence when imports rule and global fires rage.
