India's crude oil production expands by 5.8%

Asia's third-largest energy consumer produced 2.94 million tonnes of crude oil as against 2.78 million tonnes a year ago, according to latest data released by the Oil Ministry here.

Private sector firms like Cairn and Reliance produced 63.7 per cent more crude oil, at 691,300 tonnes, in May. Cairn produced about 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) from its Rajasthan fields and Reliance 30,000 bpd from its KG basin oilfields.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) produced 1.9 per cent less crude oil in May, at 2.024 million tonnes, primarily because the output of its prime Mumbai High fields had fallen by 2 per cent to 1.4 million tonnes.

Oil India Ltd reported a 23.1 per cent drop in output to 229,700 tonnes.

Reliance also helped the country's natural gas production rise for the 15th straight month. The output climbed by 34.4 per cent to 4.58 billion cubic metres, mainly due to output amounting to about 60 million standard cubic metres per day from its KG-D6 fields.

ONGC's gas output was 0.7 per cent lower, at 1.92 bcm.

Refineries, on the other hand, turned 7.7 per cent more crude oil into products in May. Refinery production increased to 13.75 million tonnes from 12.76 million tonnes a year ago.

Reliance's Jamnagar refinery turned 5.5 per cent more crude oil into products, at 3.12 million tonnes, while Essar Oil's Vadinar unit achieved a 22.9 per cent increase in production, at 1.25 million tonnes.

Processing by the state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest refiner, increased by 11.9 per cent to 4.47 million tonnes.