Domestic crude oil production fell 6.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 2.6 million metric tonne (MMT) in November. Also, the 2,566 million metric standard cubic metre (MMSCM) of natural gas produced in the country in the month was 6.2% lower than the production from a year-ago period.
The fall in output is in line with the trend observed in the ongoing fiscal, with domestic crude oil production falling 5.9% to 19.1 MMT in April-October and natural gas output dropping 4.3% to 18,180 MMSCM in the same period.
The development comes at a time when total consumption of petroleum products in India inched up only 1.4% y-o-y to 105.7 MMT in the April-September period. Consumption of natural gas increased 2.8% to 31,815 MMSCM.
Analysts at Axis Capital have attributed the moderation in consumption to “transient factors including extended monsoon, weak industrial activity and Diwali holidays”.
The research firm expects gas consumption to rise 4/5% in FY20/21E on growing penetration of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations and piped natural gas (PNG), the completion of Kochi-Mangalore pipeline, start-up of the petrochemical project at BPCL’s Kochi refinery and higher plants utilisation at ONGC Petro Additions Ltd’s petrochemical complex at Dahej.
State-run ONGC and Oil India marginally increased their natural gas production y-o-y in H1FY20, acreages under existing production sharing contracts and joint ventures dropped 13.3%.
The average price of Indian basket of crude oil in November was $62.544/barrel, 4.4% lower than November 2018. Thanks to muted consumption and fall in global oil prices, the value of petroleum imports (crude oil and petroleum products) in April-September fell 8.7% to $61.1 billion.