The Hindu Business Line : Oct crude oil output dips, gas rises

The refinery throughput was up due to higher average capacity utilisation and increased crude processing by the refineries of Indian Oil Corporation.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 25 Domestic crude oil output continued with its declining trend in October, with production dropping by 2.2 per cent against the same month last year. Natural gas production remained robust registering a 44.2 per cent increase year-on-year.

According to the data released by Petroleum Ministry, crude oil production in October fell to 2.85 million tonne (674,800 barrels a day). The decline in domestic crude output was led by lower production by ONGC.

The public sector exploration and production company produced 2.12 million tonne of oil in October, a 3.6 per cent decline. Output at ONGC’s Mumbai High fields that account for half of the domestic annual oil production fell 4 per cent to 1.48 million tonne.

Natural gas production grew to 4.082 billion cubic metres (2.831 bcm). The continued growth in natural gas production is backed by production from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)-operated D6 block in Krishna Godavari Basin, which started production from April this year.

During the month, the domestic refiners processed 7.2 per cent more of crude oil at 14.26 million tonne (3.372 million barrels per day) from 13.30 million tonne a year ago, the data showed.

The refinery throughput was up due to higher average capacity utilisation and increased crude processing by the refineries of Indian Oil Corporation.

Refineries of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (Mumbai refinery), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (Visakhapatnam), and Reliance Industries Ltd (Jamnagar) also exceeded their production targets.

Capacity utilisation stood at 112.7 per cent in October.

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