Indian natural gas output up 69% in March

Domestic natural gas output up 69% in March

The domestic crude oil production registered an increase of 3.5
percent in March year-on-year, continuing with its upward trend for
the fourth consecutive month. The crude oil output stood at 2.96
million tonnes or 6, 99,190 barrels a day during the month under
review.

According to data released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas, ONGC produced 2.1 million tonnes of oil in March, an increase of
1.3 per cent Output from ONGC's Mumbai High fields, which account for
about half of the country's annual crude oil production, registered an
increase of 1.4 per cent to 1.5 mt Natural gas production in March
registered a 69.4 per cent increase year-on-year to 4.79 billion cubic
metres (BCM), according to the data. However, the current gas
production is not comparable year-on-year, as Reliance Industries Ltd
commenced gas production from its Krishna Godavari Basin block only in
April 2009.

Though the crude oil output was up, domestic refiners processed 0.4
per cent less of crude in March, its first fall since last July. The
refiners processed 13.92 mt of crude as against 13.98 mt. The marginal
drop in crude processing was mainly propelled by decline in refining
margins, and some of the public sector refineries shutting down units
for up-gradation.

According to the data, the public sector refiners processed 2.4 per
cent less crude during the month under review. The private refiners,
such as Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, processed 4.5 percent more
crude year-on-year. However, RIL did not report its March refinery
output data, and an average of last six months was taken into
consideration, the Petroleum Ministry said. As regards its second
refinery in Jamnagar, which is in SEZ, the company did not report its
targets and production.

The domestic refiners had a capacity utilisation of 110 per cent in March.

Source: Business Line, New Delhi, April 28, 2010