India’s oil producing companies – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India Ltd (OIL), and various joint ventures – produced 15.9 million tonne of crude oil in April-October in the current financial year, down 3% on year, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.
This was even as crude oil imports rose 0.6% to 134.4 million tonnes in the first seven months of the fiscal year. In October alone, imported stood at 18.5 million tonnes, up 2.2% on year.
The country’s oil producing companies had set a target of producing 17.6 million tonnes of crude oil for the first seven months of 2023-24.
Crude oil prices have remained subdued in the current financial year compared with last fiscal which saw a spurt in prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The recent outbreak of conflict in Israel again raised concerns about a possible spike in the global crude oil prices but these seem to have been allayed lately.
Going ahead, shrinking demand from the world’s top oil consumers China and the US, and a possible extension of the voluntary output cuts by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries may result in subdued oil prices for the remainder of FY24, analysts say.
Despite the rise in import volumes, the net import bill for the oil and gas sector in October fell marginally to $11.8 billion from $11.9 billion last year. It declined by nearly a fourth to $68 billion in Apr-Oct period compared with $90.1 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. The decline in the country’s import bill can be attributed to subdued prices of crude oil and natural gas, according to the data.
The average price of the Indian crude oil basket was at $83.44 per barrel in the April to October period against $102/bbl in the same period last year, data from Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.
The price of Brent crude averaged $91.05 per barrel during October as against $94.00/bbl during September and $93.33/bbl during October 2022, the report said.
India’s dependency on crude oil imports has grown to 87.6% in the first seven months of the financial year 2023-24 from 86.6% in April to October period last fiscal primarily on increased consumption of the petroleum products even as the production remained stagnant.
The country’s consumption of petroleum products in Apr-Oct rose to 133.6 million tonnes from 126 million tonnes a year ago.
Of the total oil and gas imports, crude oil imports constituted $11.7 billion and LNG imports were billed at $1.2 billion, as per PPAC.
The country’s natural gas imports registered an increase of 18.2% to 2,337 mmscm (million standard cubic metres) last month from last year amid rising consumption.
Total natural gas consumption for the month of October was at 5,447 mmscm up by 13.4% than the corresponding month of the previous year.
Moreover, Indian oil refineries processed 20.6 million tonne of crude in October against a target of 20.9 million tonne. The refineries had processed 20.4 million tonne of crude in October 2022.
Of the total crude oil processed, the share of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd rose to 3.0 million tonne each from 2.6 million tonne and 2.7 million tonne in October 2022 respectively.
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, however, processed 5.7 million tonnes of crude last month against 6.2 million tonne in the same period a year ago.