Oil output may grow 4.8% in FY10 on back of RIL prodn: CMIE

With Reliance Industries resuming crude oil production from its KG D6 wells coupled with capacity additions by Cairn India and ONGC, India's oil output is likely to grow 4.8 per cent in FY 10, a report by CMIE said.

"We expect the growth in crude oil production to pace up in the following months. In 2009-10, we expect domestic crude oil production to grow by 4.8 per cent to 361.4-lakh tonnes," the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its February 2009 review.

"The growth in production is expected to be largely driven by private and joint venture companies," it said.

Mukesh Ambani-led RIL resumed crude production from its eastern offshore KG basin block earlier this month, after an equipment failure led to a three-month shutdown.

The company first began pumping oil in September 2008.

RIL started production with 5,000 barrels a day from this basin and claims to produce around 40,000 barrels a day by March 2009, CMIE said.

"Further, the capacity additions by Cairn India and ONGC in 2009-10 are expected to contribute to the healthy growth in crude oil production," it added.

CMIE, however, revised downward its crude output figures for the current fiscal ending March 31.

"We expect crude oil production to decline by 0.5 per cent to 340-lakh tonnes in 2008-09 from our earlier estimate of 1.1 per cent growth in production," it said.

Production tanked by 8.1 per cent in January touching a four-year low to 26.6 per cent.

"The steep decline in output can be largely attributed to the three-day strike by ONGC workers in January 2009," CMIE said, but added the monthly decline was an "aberration".

"ONGC, which accounts for 75 per cent of the total domestic crude output, witnessed a 8.7 per cent decline in production during the month," it said.

CMIE also expects refinery throughput to grow 7.7 per cent in the coming fiscal.

"The growth in refinery throughput in 2009-10 is expected to be largely fuelled by Reliance Petroleum's (RPL) export-oriented refinery at Jamnagar," it said.