Domestic natural gas production increased 19.1% to 2,769 million standard cubic metre (mscm) in May on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, mainly due to higher production from Reliance Industries and BP’s ultra-deep-water field in the KG-D6 Block of the Krishna Godavari basin on the east coast.
The output had fallen 8.1% y-o-y to 28,670.6 mscm in FY21. Indigenous natural gas production caters to about 51% of the country’s requirements, while around 85% of the country’s crude oil is imported. The 2.5 million tonne (MT) of crude oil produced in the country during the month was 1.9% lower than the production in the year-ago period.
The data for June oil and gas imports are not available yet, but the cumulative LNG import of 5,242 mscm in April-May, 2021 was higher by 24.9% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. The value of LNG import in the first two months of FY22 was $1.5 billion, about 67% higher annually.
Due to the increase in global crude oil rates, the value of the import was $8.3 billion, 261% higher than May 2020. In the first two months of FY22, the value of crude import, at $16.8 billion, was 217% higher than the same period last year though import volumes were up only 13.8% to 35.5 MT.
The current price for gas produced from local nominated fields has been revised to an all-time low of $1.79/ million British thermal units (mBtu) by the government, which is much below the breakeven point for most fields, deterring gas producers from aggressively increasing production or getting into new high-risk projects. For ultra-deep-water gas fields like the Krishna Godavari basin, which have higher pricing and marketing freedom, the current price cap is set at $3.62/mBtu.