India produced 2.57 million tonnes of crude oil in January, 4.6 per cent lower on a year-on-year basis, as the gap with pre-Covid levels, which had been narrowing till December, grew wider again.

Public-sector ONGC and Oil India extracted 1.72 million tonnes and 242,580 tonnes of crude respectively, while the fields run by private or joint venture companies, with which the government has signed production sharing contracts (PSCs), produced 614,370 tonnes during the month.

In the April-January period of the ongoing financial year, production was at 25.55 million tonnes, 5.61 per cent lower on a year-on-year basis.

Production from ONGC’s WO-16 cluster and the firm’s new wells in Ratna field could not be realised due to disruptions caused by Covid-19, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement. New wells planned under ONGC’s Cluster-8 development project was affected due to delay in installation of new platforms due to Covid-19 implications, it added.

The total natural gas production in the country during January stood at 2550.62 MMSCM, 2.21 per cent lower when compared with January last year.

At 1865.68 MMSCM, ONGC’s gas production was down 9.1 per cent year-on-year, while at 473 MMSCMD, production from PSC fields crossed pre-Covid levels for the first time in January. Oil India improved gas performance from pre-Covid levels in both January and December.

Crude pil processed by refineries during the month was 21.8 million tonnes, 0.6 per cent higher year-on-year. Refineries run by the Centre had a throughput of 13.2 million tonnes, 6.54 per cent higher on a year-on-year basis.

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