New Delhi, Sept, 10: The government is likely to allow Reliance Industries to sell domestic cooking gas (LPG) directly to bulk consumers in the country to overcome the problem of glut in LPG during lean season. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas is circulating a Cabinet note for allowing sale of indigenously produced LPG (in excess of public distribution system demand) by producers like RIL in domestic market as per their commercial considerations, official sources said. If approved, the decision would also help state-run ONGC and GAIL sell bulk LPG produced by them (after meeting the commitment to oil marketing companies for PDS requirement) directly to consumers.

Currently, four state-run oil firms - Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and IBP - market subsidised LPG (domestic) under PDS, constituting about 96 per cent of the total LPG being marketed by them. Indigenous producers of LPG like ONGC, Gail, public sector refineries and RIL can only sell LPG to state-run oil retailers for meeting PDS demand. Bureau Report