New Delhi: India has turned heavily to the United States (US) for cooking gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as fighting in West Asia chokes off its usual Gulf sources. Data from maritime intelligence firm Kpler shows the swing across both fuels. American LPG cargoes into India totalled about 0.62 million tonnes in August. July brought in 0.89 million tonnes. Together those volumes account for more than 73 percent of India's LPG imports, according to Kpler.
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The July figure is striking against the record. It sits just short of the largest monthly LPG consignment India has ever taken from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), its long-standing supplier, which was 0.891 million tonnes in October 2025.
Gulf volumes have collapsed over the same stretch. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which followed the outbreak of war between Iran and the United States, has cut off a corridor that carries crude and gas from Gulf producers to buyers, including India.
UAE LPG deliveries to India dropped to roughly 140,000 tonnes in August. Qatar sent about 60,000 tonnes. Saudi Arabia shipped none at all in either July or August, Kpler data showed.
The same pull towards American cargoes shows up in LNG, though India has spread its purchases further in that fuel.
Qatar is India's biggest LNG supplier and its deliveries fell to nothing in April. American volumes climbed to about 0.75 million tonnes in August from 0.72 million tonnes in July. Qatar has in the past sent India as much as 1.2 million tonnes of LNG in a single month.
Sumit Ritolia, senior manager for modelling, said, "The shift towards the US has broadly continued over the past few months, particularly for LPG."
He cautioned against reading the change as a choice. "I would, however, be cautious about viewing this purely as India deliberately replacing Middle Eastern supplies with US volumes. A large part of the change has been driven by constrained Middle Eastern availability and the need for Indian buyers to diversify and secure replacement cargoes," he said.
On gas specifically, he said, "For LNG, the supplier mix has been somewhat more fluid, with India sourcing incremental cargoes not only from the US but also from other Atlantic Basin and non-traditional suppliers. So, while the US has become increasingly important, the broader story is one of supply diversification following reduced Middle Eastern availability."
A short-lived thaw between Tehran and Washington has not yet dented American flows to India in any lasting way, Ritolia said. He pointed to contractual commitments, cargoes already at sea and procurement lead times as reasons energy trade does not track political shifts in real time.
Buying from further away costs more, and that is now feeding into India's import expenditure.
"There is clearly an additional cost associated with replacing nearby Middle Eastern supply with cargoes from the US and other more distant origins," Ritolia said.
He broke down where the extra cost sits. "Freight is higher because of the significantly longer voyage, while tighter global availability has also raised the underlying commodity cost," he said.
He was careful not to pin the whole increase on the American pivot. "However, I would not attribute the entire increase in India's LNG or LPG import bill to the shift towards US supplies. The increase reflects a combination of higher international prices, tighter Middle Eastern availability, freight and insurance costs, and longer supply routes. In the current environment, India is effectively paying a premium for supply security and diversification," he said.
Crude has not followed the same path. Russia is still India's biggest supplier of oil, Ritolia said, and has held that position through the threat of the Graham Bill and the prospect of secondary tariffs.
Indian refiners took close to 2 million barrels per day of Russian crude in August. The second-largest supplier was the UAE, at 0.61 million tonnes.
Ritolia drew a line between political pressure and actual trade. "The important distinction here is between policy risk and an immediate physical disruption to trade," he said.
He explained why any squeeze would take time to appear in the numbers. "Indian refiners typically procure crude several weeks in advance, so even if policy pressure increases, the adjustment would not necessarily be visible immediately in arrival data. We do not expect Russian imports to ease currently, given the overall global crude supply situation remains constrained," he said.
Substitution, he said, is not simply a matter of will. "Replacing Russian crude completely would be challenging, particularly while Middle Eastern supply and logistics remain constrained. Replacing Russian barrels is technically feasible, but economically and politically fraught," he said.
Venezuelan barrels have become a growing part of India's diversification since January, though how far that can run is capped by the nature of the crude and by what Indian refineries are built to handle. India lifted 383,000 barrels per day from Venezuela in August.
"Venezuelan crude has also become an increasingly important part of India's diversification since the start of the year," Ritolia said.
The constraint is physical. "However, these are relatively difficult, heavy barrels and not every Indian refinery can process them continuously or in large proportions, which naturally limits how much India can absorb," he said.
Those flows have eased more recently, he said, as a larger share of Venezuelan crude is drawn to the United States.
"Given the strong fit of these heavier barrels with US Gulf Coast refinery configurations, competition from US refiners could limit how much Venezuelan crude remains available for India going forward," he said.
The bigger change in India's crude mix has come from Caracas rather than from American producers, according to Ritolia. "India has significantly increased its intake of Venezuelan crude, while US crude supplies themselves have not seen a comparable increase," he said.
Quality is the reason. Much of the additional American crude on offer is light, while a number of Indian refineries are set up for medium and heavier grades, Ritolia said.
"Venezuelan barrels therefore provide a useful alternative for some refiners because of their heavier quality," he said.
Taken together, he said, "So, if US and Venezuelan crude are combined, the Americas are becoming more important to India's crude basket, but the recent increase is predominantly being driven by Venezuela rather than by a major ramp-up in US crude."
Emirati crude has held up better than supply from its neighbours. Ritolia credited the country's pipeline link to Fujairah, along with offshore and ship-to-ship handling that sidesteps the Strait of Hormuz entirely.
"UAE barrels continue to gain traction as the country has been relatively successful in maintaining exports despite regional disruptions, supported by its pipeline infrastructure to Fujairah and offshore/STS logistics outside the Strait of Hormuz," he said.
"This has allowed UAE crude flows to India to remain comparatively strong at a time when availability from several other Middle Eastern suppliers has been constrained," he said.
The pattern across all three fuels points to a country reworking its supply map as conflict redraws established routes.
"The broader trend across crude, LNG, and LPG is that India is being forced to cast a much wider net for energy supplies," Ritolia said.
"The US has become particularly important for LPG and LNG; for crude, Russia continues to dominate along with a steady share of UAE grades, while Venezuela and other alternative suppliers are gaining importance," he said.
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He closed on what the new pattern costs. "This diversification improves supply resilience, but it also comes at a cost through longer voyages, higher freight, and, in some cases, a less optimal fit with existing refinery configurations. Ultimately, India's current sourcing pattern reflects a balance between availability, economics, crude/product quality, and energy security, rather than simply a shift from one supplier to another," he said.