IGL raises Delhi CNG by Rs 3.89 a kg as Hormuz squeezes LNG

Indraprastha Gas raised the retail price of compressed natural gas in Delhi by Rs 3.89 a kilogram from 6 a.m. on Saturday, 29 August. The new pump price is Rs 86.98 a kg, up from Rs 83.09. The company said the step offsets only part of the jump in imported LNG costs after cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted again.

The same revision applies across IGL's city-gas areas. Noida and Ghaziabad move to Rs 95.59 a kg. Gurugram moves to Rs 92.01. Meerut moves to Rs 95.47. IGL is the largest city-gas distributor in north India and runs networks in twelve geographical areas across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

The fifth increase this year

Delhi CNG opened 2026 at Rs 77.09 a kg. Four increases in the second half of May added Rs 6 and took the price to Rs 83.09. Saturday's rise is the fifth of the year and lifts the cumulative increase to nearly Rs 10 a kg since January.

IGL said a large share of the gas it sells as CNG is imported LNG, so retail prices move with the international market. In April-June it sourced 52 percent of its supply through imports. Its average procurement cost in that quarter sat near Rs 40 to Rs 45 per standard cubic metre.

The company statement pointed to two forces. Since July, the renewed West Asia fighting has slowed LNG movements through Hormuz. Global LNG prices have nearly doubled against the pre-crisis period, IGL said. Europe is also filling storage ahead of winter, which adds another bid to the same cargoes.

The Asian JKM benchmark illustrates the scale. It rose from about $10.99 per million British thermal units in late February to $23.41 by 27 August, a gain of about 113 percent. Europe's TTF contract moved from $11.36 to $23.35 over the same stretch, about 105 percent.

What the hike does and does not cover

IGL called the revision calibrated. It said the extra Rs 3.89 only partly offsets the input spike and that Delhi CNG remains among the cheaper retail prices in gas-importing countries. The company still presents CNG as cheaper than petrol and diesel for private cars and commercial fleets.

That comparison is getting thinner. Auto-rickshaws, buses and many private cars in the capital run on CNG because policy and price favoured it for years. A near Rs 10 rise in eight months changes monthly running costs for drivers who cannot pass the full increase to passengers. Fleet operators will watch whether state transport corporations adjust fares.

The underlying constraint sits far from Delhi. Crude and LNG tankers that used to pass Hormuz have faced a six-month war and a naval blockade that Iran and the United States still have not unwound. Tehran has been drafting terms to reopen the strait. Those terms have not produced a working corridor. Until cargoes normalise, city-gas firms that lean on spot LNG will keep facing the same invoice.

The next pressure point

IGL is not the only distributor exposed. Other city-gas firms that mix domestic administered gas with imported molecules will have to decide whether to follow. If they wait, their margins compress. If they move, households and commercial users see another step up in a year that has already delivered five.

The number to watch next is not the Delhi board. It is JKM and the weekly count of LNG cargoes that clear Hormuz. If those cargoes stay thin into the European winter, the fifth hike of 2026 will not be the last.