Oil, gas output falls in Nov

India’s crude oil producers — both private and public sector — have had a tough November. They have not only missed their planned production targets, the cumulative production has also been lower as compared with the last year.

According to November data by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the two major public sector upstream (involved in the production of oil and gas) companies Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) have clocked a total drop in crude oil production of 4.1% and 4.5%, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

While OIL does not have any offshore production asset, ONGC’s onshore has dropped by 6.3% and offshore by 3.1%.

Some thin production assets of private and joint venture companies have acted as a saving grace, helping the overall production of the country to clock a nominal growth rate of 0.8%.

However, when seen on a cumulative basis from April to the end of November, India’s total crude oil production has dropped by 0.5% while as compared with the November’s target production; India’s crude output fell short by 6.6% to stand at 3.1 million metric tonne (mmt) as against 3.3 mmt.

What is surprising here is that while last year it was only Mumbai High Offshore which was losing production, this time it is a host of other fields of ONGC and OIL that have posted a drop.

“Yes, we are lagging behind this year but so far we have not yet looked at revising the target,” said a top official from ONGC’s management.

What is noteworthy is that while in the last year, crude oil production had missed the planned target by just 0.3%, so far this year, the number stands at 4.1%.

“There are still 90 days to go and we will try to pump up crude oil from Mumbai High which comprises 70% of our production,” said the ONGC official, and added that at least in natural gas production, the company will be able to achieve the target.

In March, the then oil minister Jaipal Reddy had put a total crude oil production target of 42.303 mmt and natural gas target of 43.177 billion cubic feet for 2012-13.

So far, India has been clocking lesser production even in natural gas, with November’s production falling -4.8% short of the planned target.

But on a cumulative basis, the total natural gas production has shown a jump of 2% over planned target on a cumulative year starting to November.