Business Line reported that with domestic natural gas output declining for the 24th straight month in November,gas sourcing and transmission companies are left with little option but to import.
The country's natural gas output fell 15.2%in November YoY mainly because of the continued drop in production from the country's largest gas fields in the East coast operated by Reliance Industries.
In November,157 million standard cubic meter per day to 158 million standard cubic meter per day of gas was transported into the country by the transmission companies,including GAIL.Of this,102 million standard cubic meter per day to 103 million standard cubic meter per day was domestic gas and 55 million standard cubic meter per day to 56 million standard cubic meter per day was imported.According to industry,during last couple of months,5 million standard cubic meter per day to 7 million standard cubic meter per day of additional LNG has flowed into the network.
According to Petroleum Planning&Analysis Cell(PPAC)data,Gas production from offshore fields,including the D6 block,fell 18.4%in November annually.During the April to November period of the current fiscal,natural gas output fell 13.1%YoY.The output from the offshore fields has dropped 15.9%.
According to PPAC data,in the D6 block a total of seven wells in D1,D3 and MA fields have ceased to flow due to water/sand ingress and planned shutdown of FPSO at MA fields for 6 days.
Meanwhile,crude oil production,which was down in October YoY recovered in November.Domestic output in November was up 0.8%annually.While output from the offshore fields,including ONGC's Mumbai High,dropped 6.8%YoY,that from the onshore fields,which includes Cairn's Rajasthan fields,saw an increase of 9.2%.
