LIQUEFIED Petroleum Gas (LPG), long a niche product used by the poor to cook and the rich to barbecue, has become a rare bright spot amid a broad commodities rout, riding on the wave of strong economic growth in India and parts of Southeast Asia.

    LPG is best known to consumers as propane or butane used in heating appliances and vehicles. But it is also used in the petrochemicals industry and the electricity sector, acting as a replacement for diesel in generators and power stations.

    While tumbling prices for oil, gas, coal and industrial metals have seen energy companies and miners slash capital expenditure, investment is flowing into the LPG sector to feed burgeoning demand from the world’s poorer nations.

    The biggest growth market is India, with its 1.3 billion people and 8 percent economic growth expected this year, where millions of households are switching from kerosene or wood burners to LPG.

    “LPG is convenient because it is smoke-free and saves time,” said Sunita Nagar, a 45-year-old housewife in the village of Dujana on the outskirts of Delhi, who got her first LPG in July.

    Tejveer Singh Nagar, 36, who has a physical disability, has also recently received his first LPG for cooking.

    “I’m unmarried. Since I’ve got LPG I boil milk, and cook myself,” he said. “Earlier, I was dependent on my sister-in-law to cook and give me milk.”

    Indian government data show that the share of households which have access to LPG has risen from around 50 percent in 2010 to 70 percent this year.

    “There is a clear decision to increase LPG penetration as this is a cleaner fuel,” said Indrajit Bose, executive director at Indian Oil Corp.

    “It cuts pollution and also replaces use of wood as well as animal dung used for cooking in rural India. In the last 5-6 years, the government has been consistently reducing the allocation of subsidized kerosene... Delhi is today kerosene-free.”

    Energy consultancy IHS expects global LPG demand to rise from around 275 million tons this year to some 310 million tons by 2019, with the biggest growth seen in Asia. That compares with under 250 million tons in 2010.

    The World Bank said LPG helps reduce poverty, giving millions of households access to cooking heat and electricity for the first time.

    “Reduction of extreme poverty is impossible without addressing energy scarcity,” said Anita Marangoly George, senior director of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. “We see LPG as crucial in fighting energy poverty.”

    LPG burns cleaner than wood or kerosene, and although both LPG and kerosene are highly flammable.(SD-Agencies)