Covid-19 impact: India crude oil production plummets 5.5% in March

The cumulative crude oil production during 2019-20 was 32.1 million tonne, 5.95 per cent lower than production of 34.2 mt during the corresponding period of last year

At a time when the global crude oil price is heading south, India's crude oil and natural gas production in 2019-20 dropped 6.1 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively, over 2018-19. Affected also by the Covid-19 lockdown, crude oil production dropped 5.5 per cent and natural gas 14.38 per cent in March over the equivalent period in 2019.
 

According to the data released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), crude oil production in 2019-20 was 32.1 million tonnes (mt), 6.1 per cent lower than the 34.2 mt in 2018-19.
 

On the other hand, cumulative natural gas production in 2019-20 was 31,179.96 million metric standard cubic metres (MMSCM), 5.2 per cent lower than the 32,873.4 MMSCM during 2018-19.
 

This comes at a time when the Indian crude oil basket was seen at a record low of $16.38 a barrel on Wednesday.

From the negative price early this week, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude recovered 7.5 per cent to $14.81 a barrel at one point on Thursday.
 

The price of Brent crude was also up 5.1 per cent at $21.41 a barrel.
 

Cumulative crude oil production by ONGC and Oil India dropped 1.97 per cent and 5.66 per cent, respectively, over 2018-19.
 

On the other hand, natural gas production by both companies saw a drop of 3.76 per cent and 1.97 per cent, respectively, over 2018-19.
 

Refinery production in March 2020 was 21.2 million tonnes, 5.74 per cent lower than in March 2019.
 

Production during 2019-20 was about 254.38 million tonnes, 1.1 per cent lower than in 2018-19. The output of public-sector refineries during 2019-20 was about 144.71 million tonnes, which is 2.18 per cent and 4.15 per cent lower than the target for the year and the production in 2018-19, respectively.