India, March 3 -- As the US-Israel-Iran conflict entered its third day on Monday, international oil and gas prices rose sharply. On Monday, Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Aramco, shut down a refinery as a precautionary measure, while Qatar's State owned QatarEnergy suspended production of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), even as at least three ships were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend. The waterway to the south of Iran transports about 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas supplies.

International crude oil prices have risen over 10-13 percent while prices of natural gas has spiked by nearly 50 per cent. India is the world's fourth-largest buyer of LNG. Further, according to Government data between 2.5-2.7 million ba...