NEW DELHI 

India has issued an order to “ensure equitable distribution and continued availability” of natural gas for priority sectors, amid the Middle East conflict's impact on energy supplies.

An order issued on Monday night by India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said the government has assessed that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has resulted in the disruption of liquefied natural gas shipments.

“In order to ensure equitable distribution and continued availability of natural gas for priority sectors,” the government considers it "necessary to regulate production, sector-wise allocation and diversion of natural gas supplies, distribution, disposal, acquisition, use or consumption of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and re-gassified-LNG,” the order said.

In the order, the government has also mentioned distribution in accordance with four priority areas.

The first priority sector will receive 100% of the average gas consumption of the past six months, to include domestic piped natural gas supply, compressed natural gas for transport, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) production, including LPG shrinkage requirements and pipeline compressor fuel, as well as other essential pipeline operational requirements.

The other priority areas include gas supply to tea industries, manufacturing and other industrial consumers and fertilizer plants.

The order by the Indian government comes as hotel and restaurant industry bodies in various Indian cities have flagged the shortage of commercial cooking gas cylinders.

Regional tensions escalated since Israel and the US launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, which have so far killed around 1,300 people, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and several Gulf countries hosting US military assets.

Iran also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz around March 1. The strategic waterway normally handles about 20 million barrels of oil shipments daily and roughly 20% of the global liquefied natural gas trade.