Indian crude output dips for second successive month
22 Dec 2011
India's crude oil output was down for the second straight month in November as production at Oil & Natural Gas Corp and non-state companies fell.
Asia's second-biggest energy consumer pumped 3.1 MMT of oil last month, 5.7 per cent lower against the year earlier, according to an oil ministry statement today.
Production by state-owned ONGC, the country's largest energy explorer, was down 4.2 per cent at 1.9MMT according to the ministry. The company's Mumbai High fields pumped out 1.3MMT, a decline of 5.3 per cent. The fields, 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, contribute around 42 per cent to India's total production.
Production by non-state explorers dropped 11.7 per cent to 833,200 tons, while output from offshore areas, where companies including Reliance Industries Ltd and BG Group Plc operate, fell 28 per cent.
In Rajasthan, where Cairn India Ltd operates the country's biggest onshore oil deposit, production was up 0.1 per cent to 524,700 tons, according to the data. The field was started by Cairn India in August 2009.
According to the statement, Oil India Ltd, the second-biggest state-run crude producer, reported a 3.3-per cent increase in output to 311,200 tons.
