New Delhi: With restaurants and hotels flagging non-availability of commercial LPG as the government focuses on domestic consumers amid supply disruptions caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran, the petroleum and natural gas ministry on Monday (March 9) formed a panel to consider their representations.It has formed a committee comprising three executive directors of oil marketing companies to review representations for the supply of LPG to restaurants and hotels among other industries, the ministry said in an X post on Monday night.On the other hand it has “prioritised domestic LPG supply to households”, ordered oil refineries to produce more LPG and divert surplus gas supplies for domestic use, it added. The ministry has also enforced a 25-day waiting period between domestic bookings to avoid hoarding and black market sales.“Non-domestic supplies from imported LPG [are] being prioritised to essential non-domestic sectors such as hospitals and educational institutions,” said the ministry.Earlier on Monday, the National Restaurant Association of India wrote in a statement that while the government said it had not banned commercial LPG cylinder supplies, “the ground situation is different, with suppliers expressing inability to supply the same”.“This is severely impacting the restaurant industry and in turn supply of food as an essential service for citizens. We request urgent clarification/intervention,” the trade body said. The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India too wrote to the ministry highlighting similar concerns.The Bangalore Hotels Association said in a notice that the restaurant sector is considered an “essential service” that “common people, senior citizens, students, medical professionals and others” rely on, and that if commercial LPG supplies were not restored “hotels will go on strike from tomorrow [Tuesday]”, the Indian Express reported.In Punjab LPG agencies were instructed to halt new dispatches of non-domestic non-exempted gas in a move to ensure supplies to households, The Tribune reported.India sources some two-thirds of its LPG needs from overseas, with West Asia accounting for up to 90% of imports, Reuters noted. Argus cited Kpler data as indicating that 95% of these shipments traverse the Strait of Hormuz where traffic has come to a standstill amid the war.Some 40% of Indian crude imports – which make around 85%-88% of India’s oil needs – originate from West Asia and travel through the Hormuz Strait, per Reuters.Having diversified away from Russian oil under pressure from Washington, Indian refiners have after being ‘granted’ a ‘waiver’ by the US government picked up millions of barrels of the commodity that were floating in nearby waters, with Reliance having bought no fewer than six million barrels for delivery later this month, the news agency has reported.Reliance reportedly bought these cargoes at prices ranging from a $1 discount to a $1 premium at a time when crude prices worldwide have shot up.Under the aforementioned ‘waiver’, the Business Standard reported, Indian refiners are also able to buy floating crude made by the Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil, which the Trump administration had sanctioned last year alongside threatening secondary sanctions against those doing business with the companies.Replying to a question on the government’s plan to deal with the impact of rising oil prices on inflation, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha on Monday that as inflation “is near the lower bound, the impact … is not estimated to be substantial at this point”.“However, the medium-term impact of the global crude oil price rise on inflation depends on several factors, including exchange rate movements, global demand and supply situation, monetary policy transmission, the state of general inflation and the extent of the indirect pass-through,” the minister said in response to Samajwadi Party MP Zia ur Rehman’s question.Indian exports too have been affected or stand to be affected by the war. Basmati shipments, of which West Asian nations are major buyers, have reportedly idled at domestic ports or been stuck in transit due to the conflict, while Mint has reported that India’s wheat exports – greenlit this year after a near-four-year ban – may take a hit.That would come amid an anticipated record harvest of 120 million tonnes this financial year and on top of subdued sentiment among the wheat industry due to losses from last year, the newspaper’s Dhirendra Kumar and Vijay Roy wrote.