Indian Oil Panic Buying: Amid soaring tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad, major public sector fuel retailers on Friday assured citizens that ample fuel stocks are available across the country, and urged them to desist from panic buying and hoarding of fuels like petrol, diesel, and cooking gas.
“#IndianOil has ample fuel stocks across the country and our supply lines are operating smoothly. There is no need for panic buying—fuel and LPG is readily available at all our outlets. Help us serve you better by staying calm and avoiding unnecessary rush. This will keep our supply lines running seamlessly and ensure uninterrupted fuel access for all,” the country’s largest fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
“BPCL assures all citizens that sufficient stock of Petrol, Diesel, CNG, and LPG are available across our nationwide network. All our Fuel Stations and LPG Distributorships are operating smoothly and are fully equipped to meet the energy needs of consumers. There is no cause for concern or panic buying. We urge all customers to remain calm, as our supply chain operations remain robust and efficient, ensuring uninterrupted supplies,” India’s second-largest public sector refiner and fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation posted on X.
#IndianOil has ample fuel stocks across the country and our supply lines are operating smoothly.
There is no need for panic buying—fuel and LPG is readily available at all our outlets.
Help us serve you better by staying calm and avoiding unnecessary rush. This will keep our…
— Indian Oil Corp Ltd (@IndianOilcl) May 9, 2025
The advisories followed a few incidents of people resorting to panic buying of essential items and fuels over the past three days, primarily due to anxiety spread by some viral social media messages, which have been dismissed as fake by the government.
According to sources in India’s fuel retail sector, fuel supplies are normal and incidents of panic buying have been isolated. Nevertheless, it is important to reassure people that enough fuel is available to prevent panic buying and hoarding, officials said. Panic buying, fuelled by rumours, can by itself lead to regional disruptions in fuel supply, and therefore, countering any misinformation on the fuel availability situation is important, they said.
India has over 96,000 fuel retail outlets that sell automobile fuels petrol and diesel spread across the length and breadth of the country. Of these, Indian Oil alone has over 40,000 outlets, followed by the other two public sector fuel retailers—Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation—each of which has nearly 24,000 fuel retail stations. Private sector players like Reliance industries, Nayara Energy, and Shell cumulatively have close to 9,000 fuel stations. As for LPG, or cooking gas, there are over 25,000 distributors dotted across India, with Indian Oil accounting for nearly 13,000, and Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan petroleum accounting for the rest.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared after New Delhi struck nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on Wednesday. The strikes — codenamed ‘Operation Sindoor’ — targeted terror bases in Pakistan and were in retaliation for the deadly terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir on April 22 that left 26 people dead. Following India’s precision strikes at Pakistan’s terror infrastructure, the conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours has flared up considerably over the past couple of days with regular exchange of fire and drone assaults.
With the escalation in tensions, instances of panic buying of food, fuel, and other essential items have been reported from some parts of the country, mainly areas in states along the border with Pakistan. A number of areas in these states experienced full blackouts on Thursday night as Pakistan, in a major escalation of the conflict, launched multiple attacks directed at the Indian territory using drones and other munitions, but all of these attacks were thwarted by Indian air defence systems and armed forces.
