The sharp rebound in industrial activity across Gujarat’s ceramic hub shows how Morbi gas demand recovery is being driven more by risk management than demand fundamentals. According to Indian Petroplus analysis, the restart was triggered not by improved market conditions but by restored fuel certainty.

The Morbi gas demand recovery followed a near shutdown phase where gas supply volatility and pricing uncertainty forced large-scale production halts. Once supply assurance and short-term price visibility were introduced, idle capacity returned rapidly.

This response highlights a critical shift where operational predictability becomes more important than input cost levels. Even with broader cost pressures still present, units resumed operations as soon as fuel risk was mitigated.

The speed of Morbi gas demand recovery suggests that industrial demand in gas-dependent clusters is highly sensitive to uncertainty rather than just pricing.

This makes risk management, rather than affordability alone, a key lever in sustaining industrial gas consumption, Morbi, Gas Demand, Demand Recovery, Industrial Gas India, Ceramic Industry, Gujarat Industry.

What India’s gas numbers are really telling us

In December, India’s gas data did something markets are not supposed to do.

Supply went down. Consumption went up.

This wasn’t a data glitch. It was a mirror held up to how India’s gas system now works.

The contradiction

Official data shows:

– Domestic gas production fell 4.2% year-on-year – LNG imports declined 0.7% – Gas available for sale dropped 2.6%

Yet:

– Total gas consumption rose 2.9%

In a real market, this doesn’t happen.

There was no hidden supply

Nothing mysterious filled the gap.

– Net gas for sale stayed around 83% of gross production – LNG imports were lower, not higher – No inventory drawdowns or accounting tricks

The answer lies in who consumed gas, not where it came from.

Some sectors are protected

Consumption rose because priority sectors were insulated.

In December:

– Fertiliser took nearly 30% of total gas demand – City Gas Distribution grew over 8% year-on-year – Petrochemicals increased consumption by more than 9%

These sectors expanded even as total gas availability shrank.

Others absorbed the cuts

To make that possible, other sectors stepped back.

– The “Others” category fell more than 12% – Refinery gas use is down sharply on a cumulative basis – Power demand spiked briefly, but remains well below last year overall

Demand didn’t grow. It was reassigned.

Power demand gives the game away

Gas use in power jumped in December.

But over April to December, power sector gas consumption is still far lower than last year.

Gas shows up in power generation only when something breaks — coal shortages, grid stress, policy intervention.

That isn’t market demand. That’s manufactured demand.

LNG makes this unavoidable

Here’s the structural reality:

Imported LNG is now the single largest source of gas in the system.

When gas is imported, every molecule has to be allocated. There is no surplus drifting around, looking for buyers.

Allocation replaces price discovery.

Geography tells the same story

Most gas is consumed in a handful of states:

– Gujarat – Uttar Pradesh – Maharashtra

That reflects pipelines, city gas networks, and old industrial clusters — not nationwide demand growth.

What the numbers really say

December’s data doesn’t show a gas market responding to prices or abundance.

It shows:

– Protected sectors holding or growing consumption – Flexible sectors being squeezed – Power acting as a swing consumer – LNG anchoring a constrained system

Headline demand growth survives through policy, not economics.

Bottom line

India’s gas market is no longer about producing or importing more gas.

It’s about deciding who gets to keep using gas when there isn’t enough to go around — and keeping demand numbers looking healthy while doing it.

That’s the uncomfortable truth hidden in December’s data.