According to the recent data released by the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry, the production of crude oil in India registered a trivial increase of 0.5% in May to 3.25 million tonnes. May month’s crude oil output at 3.25 million metric tonnes, which is equal to 768,200 barrels a day, rose marginally from 3.23 million tonnes in the same month last year period, but failed to surpass the government’s forecast of 3.33 million tonnes.
Moreover, the production of natural gas in the country prolonged its receding trend in May for the 18th month in a row, underscoring the fact that India is struggling to keep up production at its ageing assets. In May, natural gas production plummeted by 10.8 percent to 3.70 billion cubic meters from last year’s May month figure of 4.14 billion cubic meters, largely on account of sharp decline in gas production by major Reliance Industries from the D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari Basin. However, the numbers managed to surpass the government’s forecast of 3.45 billion cubic meters.
The gap between India’s total domestic gas production of about 115 mmscmd and gas demand of about 165 mmscmd, is met through imports. Asia’s third largest India economy, which meets more than 75 percent of its energy needs through imports, has been taking serious efforts in order to boost domestic production as India’s rising import bill has adversely impacted the nation’s current account deficit and has also stocked inflationary pressures.
However, the declining potential of sedimentary basins and ageing and depleting fields have emerged as major roadblocks for the way of India’s aim to boost domestic energy production. India, the world's fourth largest oil importer, saw its dependence on crude oil and gas imports expand as domestic refiners imported 5.8 percent more crude oil in May year-on-year at 14.586 million tonnes from 13.784 million tonnes in the same period last a year earlier, taking the refining capacity of the country to nearly 215 million tonnes.
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