LPG demand accounts for around 10% of global oil demand and is used by many households for cooking. The conflict has caused major disruptions to LPG supply chains. With natural gas processing operations halted in parts of the region and flows through the Strait of Hormuz having come to a standstill, LPG supplies for cooking use have been severely curtailed, both locally and at export destinations. Next to measures to free up LPG capacity from other uses, such as in transport or industry, to prioritise domestic use, there are also actions to directly reduce cooking fuel demand.

Description: Constrained LPG supply could have significant implications for households that rely on this fuel for cooking. LPG is the main fuel used for a fundamental service like cooking by 2.3 billion people in Asia. Some households own multiple modern cooking technologies, like LPG or electric stoves, and others could afford those with incentives. Targeted campaigns could help users switch to other modern cooking alternatives and reduce reliance on LPG. This could mitigate the risk of fuel shortages, which could pose significant challenges in households with limited ability to switch to alternative fuels and could also face rapidly rising prices for other cooking fuels, especially in urban areas. In many rural areas, rising fuel prices are already driving some households to revert to charcoal and wood, undermining longer-term objectives to extend universal access to clean cooking. This has implications for air quality and health. Using biomass as a traditional cooking fuel is associated with around 2.5 million premature deaths globally each year.

Impact: In the 20 countries that make up over 90% of LPG use for cooking, between 5% and 15% of households relying on LPG already have access to an alternative modern cooking solution and could be encouraged to prioritise its use. For households that rely exclusively on LPG for cooking, facilitating access to alternative modern cooking solutions, such as electric stoves or electric pans, could further reduce demand, subject to available equipment stocks and grid capacity. For around half of these households, a basic alternative would be less than 5% of monthly income, and targeted incentives can improve the affordability, provided supply chains can accommodate the increased demand.

How governments can enable this: Governments can encourage those households to use their electric devices more when they own it or support greater electric appliances adoption with targeted incentives for lower-income families. Any incentive scheme should prioritise those with limited resources, and consideration should also be given to the availability of appliance stocks and grid capacity.

Policy examples: Indonesia is accelerating the conversion of LPG to induction stoves to reduce fuel imports and subsidy burdens. In India, the government of Andhra Pradesh, for example, is equipping local community centres with induction stoves, deploying over 44 000 units amid LPG supply concerns.