India sees 3.7 percent increase in crude oil production

Friday, 24 January 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India witnessed a slight increase in oil and gas production in the first three quarters of the 2002-03 fiscal. In April-December 2002, India's oil production increased to 24.907 million metric tonnes (MMT) from 24.015 MMT in the last year, the petroleum ministry said Thursday. The rise marks an increase of 3.7 percent. "The production of 24.907 MMT during April-December was 0.8 percent higher than the production target of 24.709 MMT," according to data from the ministry. The planned crude oil production target for the full fiscal is 33.282 MMT. The oil production of 2.814 MMT in December was also 2.8 percent higher than the target of 2.738 MMT. India annually imports around 78 million tonnes of crude oil, which is about 70 percent of its hydrocarbon requirements. To boost domestic production, India has adopted a multi-pronged strategy, including stepping up exploration and trying to enhance recovery from existing sources. In the case of gas, India achieved 4.6 percent higher production at 23,332 million cubic metres (MCM) during April-December 2002 as against 22,299 MCM in the same period last year. Natural gas production of 2,728 MCM in December 2002 was 6.1 percent higher than in the previous year. Several new discoveries, including an estimated seven trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the Krishna-Godavari offshore area block of Reliance Industries, have boosted India's hopes of bridging the gap between demand and supply.
Source: IANS