IGL raises Delhi CNG by Rs 3.89 a kg as spot LNG stays expensive

Indraprastha Gas Limited raised compressed natural gas prices by Rs 3.89 a kilogram across its network from 6 a.m. on Saturday. In Delhi the new retail rate is Rs 86.98 a kg, up from Rs 83.09. The company said a large share of the gas that feeds city CNG pumps now arrives as imported liquefied natural gas, and that spot cargoes have stayed expensive since the West Asia conflict disrupted the Strait of Hormuz.

The increase is not uniform. IGL’s Saturday list puts Noida and Ghaziabad at Rs 95.59 a kg, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli at Rs 95.47, Gurugram at Rs 92.01, Rewari at Rs 91.59 and Kanpur, Hamirpur and Fatehpur at Rs 98.31. Ajmer, Pali and Rajsamand are listed at Rs 96.33.

IGL called the move a calibrated revision that only partly offsets higher input costs. It also said CNG remains cheaper than petrol and diesel for private cars and commercial fleets. That comparison holds on a per-kilometre basis for many users. It does not cancel the fifth increase in the same conflict year.

The fifth hike since the war began

In May the company raised CNG by a total of Rs 6 a kg in four steps over ten days. Saturday’s change is the first since that burst. From early May to 29 August the Delhi pump price has moved from about Rs 77.09 to Rs 86.98. Auto-rickshaw drivers and CNG-bus contractors feel that as a daily line item. Households that cook on piped gas face a related but separate tariff cycle.

The company’s Friday statement tied the latest step to two facts. First, Hormuz traffic is still impaired, so Asian spot LNG has nearly doubled from the pre-crisis level. Second, Europe is restocking storage before winter, which keeps cargoes bid away from India. IGL said a growing share of its CNG molecules therefore come from the spot market rather than from cheaper long-term domestic gas.

That sourcing mix is the part of the story that will last after Saturday. City-gas companies were built on the assumption that domestic gas, allocated under old priority rules, would cover most transport demand. Demand outgrew that pool. Every time the imported slice grows, the pump price starts to move with Japan and Korea’s LNG tenders rather than with ONGC’s wellhead.

What a Rs 3.89 step does to a daily run

A typical Delhi auto-rickshaw burns a few kilograms a shift. The extra cost per day is a few tens of rupees, not a few hundred. Fleet owners who refill large vans or buses see a larger invoice. State transport corporations that bought CNG buses to meet air-quality rules now carry a fuel bill that tracks a war they do not control.

IGL cannot fix Hormuz. It can only decide how much of the imported premium to pass through and how fast. Saturday’s number is the pass-through it chose after three quiet months. If spot LNG eases, the company has in the past trimmed rates. If cargoes stay tight into the European winter, another revision remains the base case.

For commuters the practical check is the board at the pump, not the press note. Delhi is Rs 86.98. Noida is Rs 95.59. The gap between those two figures is larger than the hike itself. That is the map of the NCR fuel market on the first weekend of the new rate.