India’s crude oil production declined in November, led by lower output at Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), the nation’s largest explorer.
Asia’s third-biggest energy consuming nation pumped 2.79 million tonnes of oil last month, 1.5 per cent less than a year earlier, the Oil Ministry said in a statement yesterday. Production by non-state explorers increased 4.5 per cent to 458,000 tonnes, the government said.
State-owned ONGC produced 2.04 million tonnes of oil in November, a 3.5 per cent decline, the data showed.
Output at ONGC’s Mumbai High fields fell 5.3 per cent to 1.42 million tonnes. The fields, 100 miles (160 kilometres) northwest of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, accounts for half of India’s annual oil production.
India’s natural gas output increased for the ninth straight month, rising almost 48 per cent to 4.06 billion cubic meters, according to the data.
Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company, started producing natural gas from the country’s biggest field in April.