India's crude, gas output up by 12.5% in Sept

India's crude oil production jumped by 12.5 per cent in September on the back of higher output from the Cairn India-operated Rajasthan fields.

The country produced 3.11 million tonnes of crude oil in September, 2010, compared to 2.77 million tonnes in September, 2009, according to data released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas here.

Cairn currently produces 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Mangala field in the prolific Rajasthan block.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) reported a 2.2 per cent drop in output to 2 million tonnes in September as production from its prime Mumbai High fields fell to 1.39 million tonnes from 1.42 million tonnes a year ago.

Natural gas production rose by 12.6 per cent to 4.21 billion cubic metres in September, mostly on the back of output from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 fields.

While KG-D6 produces a little less than 60 million standard cubic metres of gas per day, ONGC's output dipped marginally to 1.9 billion cubic metres in September.

The 19 public and private sector refineries in the country processed 12.16 million tonnes of crude oil in September, 2010, 10.2 per cent less than in the same month last year.

Reliance Industries reported an 8.6 per cent drop in crude oil processing at its old Jamnagar refinery to 2.72 million tonnes.

Crude oil production in April-September was up 10.2 per cent to 16.6 million tonnes, even though ONGC's output dipped by 1.2 per cent to 12.22 million tonnes.

Natural gas production was up by 25.2 per cent at 26.66 bcm during the six-month period.