Aramco and Algeria's Sonatrach have raised official selling prices for liquefied petroleum gas in April by between ‌38 per cent and 80 per cent due to limited global supply, traders said.

The war in the Middle East has led to the largest energy supply crisis in decades, pushing global prices to multi-year highs, reported Reuters.

Some LPG production capacity ⁠in the Gulf has been damaged, and shipments of propane and butane from countries in the region, which previously accounted for approximately 30 per cent of global seaborne LPG exports, have been suspended since early March due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Aramco's April OSP increased by $205 a metric tonne to $750 a tonne for ‌propane ⁠and by $260 a tonne to $800 a tonne for butane.

Propane and butane are types of LPG with different boiling points. 

LPG is mainly used as fuel for cars, heating and as ⁠a feedstock for other petrochemicals.

Sonatrach increased its April OSP for propane by $325 a tonne to $850 and for butane by $400 a ⁠tonne to $900 a tonne.

Aramco's OSPs are used as a reference for contracts to supply LPG from the ⁠Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region.

Sonatrach's OSPs are used as benchmarks for the Mediterranean and Black Sea region, including Turkey.