India’s crude oil and natural gas output fell in December for a third straight monthly year-on-year drop due to a natural decline at ageing fields, government data showed Friday.
Oil output decreased 5.6% in December to 3.17 million tons, or 750,355 barrels a day, from 3.36 million tons, or 795,000 barrels a day, a year earlier, the data showed. Growth in local fuel sales in December eased to 2.3 percent versus 11.3 percent in November as use of refined fuels declined due to a cold wave which hampers transportation and construction activity. Gasoil is not used widely for heating. Refiners processed about 3.51 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil last month, slightly less than November, when crude throughput was up an annual 11 percent over a low base in the year-ago period.
Production by non-state explorers fell 9.9 percent to 857,600 tons. Output from offshore areas, including fields operated by Reliance Industries Ltd. and BG Group Plc, declined 24 percent. In Rajasthan state, where Cairn India Ltd. operates the country’s biggest onshore oil deposit, production fell 0.1 percent to 540,300 tons, according to the data. Cairn India started the field in August 2009.
Oil India Ltd., the second-biggest state-run explorer, reported a 1.9 percent increase in output to 315,800 tons, according to the statement.
Natural gas output in the country fell for the 13th month, declining 11 percent to 3.9 billion cubic meters, according to the data.
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