India’s production of crude oil, which is refined to produce petrol and diesel, continued to decline in December, with lower output from the State-owned ONGC leading to an almost 2% drop, official data showed on Wednesday.
Oil production in December was 2.51 million tonnes, down from 2.55 million tonnes a year earlier and a target of 2.6 million tonnes. The output was, however, higher than 2.43 million tonnes produced in November 2021.
ONGC, India’s biggest producer, produced 3% less crude oil at 1.65 million tonnes in December due to delays in mobilising equipment at western offshore fields. Oil India Ltd. (OIL) produced 5.4% more crude oil at 2,54,360 tonnes.
India is 85% reliant on imports to meet its crude oil needs as domestic output is insufficient to meet the demand. Natural gas production, however, rose by almost a fifth to 2.89 billion cubic metre (bcm) in December 2021.
