To meet the growing demand for petroleum products, the domestic public and private oil refiners processed 8.4 per cent more crude oil into products in August year-on-year.
High consumption also means greater dependence on the import of oil and gas. In August the domestic refiners imported 14.275 million tonnes of crude oil. Almost 78-80 per cent of crude oil demand is met through imports.
Petroleum product consumption/demand during the month was up 8 per cent annually at 12.037 million tonnes, according to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC).
According to PPAC, the consumption estimates represent the market demand and is the aggregate of sales by oil companies in the domestic market and consumption through direct imports by private parties. While the data for company sales were actual, that of private direct imports are estimated, PPAC said.
The 18 public sector and two private sector companies (Reliance Industries first refinery in Jamnagar and Essar Oil’s Vadinar) processed 15.204 million tonnes (14.022 million tonnes). Reliance Industries does not share data for its second refinery in Jamnagar which is an export-oriented refinery.
Feeling the pressure of rising consumption are domestic oil and gas explorers such as ONGC, Cairn India and Reliance Industries, as the country’s natural gas output dipped 13.5 per cent and crude oil production fell by 0.6 per cent year-on-year in August.
According to data released by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, the drop in crude oil output was because of a 6.7 per cent decline in production from ONGC’s Mumbai High Offshore at 1.309 million tonnes year-on-year in August.
The country’s natural gas output has fallen for the 21st straight month in August due mainly to the continued drop in production from the country’s largest gas fields on the East coast operated by Reliance Industries. Gas production from the offshore fields, including D6, fell by almost 16.3 per cent in August year-on-year.
Reliance-BP-Niko partners in D6 block have come in for strong criticism for the continued drop in output from the D-1 and D-3 gas fields as well as the MA oil and gas fields in the D6 block. After hitting a high of 60 mmscmd in end-2009, gas output from D-1 and D-3 is 21 mmscmd and the MA fields is 5 mmscmd (taking the total to 26 mmscmd).