India’s crude oil production fell 2.67% in the fiscal year ended March 31 as state-owned ONGC produced less than target but natural gas production rose, helped by KG production from Reliance-BP.
Crude oil production was 29.69 million tonnes in 2021-22 (April 2020 to March 2022), down 2.63% from production of 30.5 million tonnes a year ago and 11.67% below the target of 33, 61 million tons, according to official data from the oil ministry.
India’s crude oil production has been declining in recent years. From 35.7 million tons in 2017-18, it fell to 34.2 million tons the following year and to 32.2 million tons in 2019-20 and 30.5 million tons in 2020-21.
The main reason for the decline is the aging fields where a natural decline in production has started. Production is sustained by investing in technology to increase recovery rates.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced 19.45 million tons of crude oil in fiscal 2022, which was 13.82% less than the target and 3.62% less than production in the previous fiscal year.
This is due to less than expected production from the WO-16 cluster in the western offshore region due to a delay in mobilizing a production unit and less oil in the NBP field due to an inspection-related shutdown, it said.
However, natural gas production rose 18.66 percent in FY22 to 34 billion cubic meters.
This comes after Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner BP Plc started production from newer fields in the east offshore block KG-D6.
The five-fold increase in production of 1.34 billion cubic meters from the east coast offsets a 5.7 percent decline in ONGC’s production.
As demand returned with a rebound in economic activity, refiners processed 9 percent more crude to 241.7 million tonnes in fiscal 2021-22.
They produced 254.3 million tons of petroleum products, up from 233.5 million tons last year and targeting 249.8 million tons for the fiscal year.
Refinery operations were at 89 percent of capacity for the fiscal year, the data showed. PTI DISPLAY DRR
