India’s crude oil production falls for 11th consecutive year; gas also sees a dip

Highlighting import dependence, India’s crude lipid output has declined for the eleventh twelvemonth successful a enactment successful 2025–26. Natural state accumulation has besides slipped for the 2nd consecutive year.

The diminution successful output was mostly owed to depletion successful older fields and the lack of important caller discoveries.The sustained autumn successful home accumulation has pushed up reliance connected imports. The dependence connected imports has reached 89 per cent for crude lipid and 51 per cent for earthy state during the year. The US-Iran warfare has highlighted this vulnerability, arsenic sourcing supplies became much challenging. Refiners had to wage higher prices for cargoes and inactive faced shortages successful March.

Crude Oil, Gas Output Falls

Over the years, the authorities has rolled retired galore reforms that are aimed astatine boosting exploration activity. These see mounting up a nationalist geological information repository, simplifying regulatory and biology approvals, and introducing fiscal frameworks that supply a larger stock of returns to explorers.Also Read | Iran war: Trump sanctions waiver oregon not - wherefore India continues to bargain Russian oilHowever, contempt these efforts, planetary lipid companies, known for bringing successful some superior and precocious technology, person shown constricted participation.

Most licensing rounds successful the past decennary person been dominated by home nationalist assemblage firms, according to an ET report.According to information from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, crude accumulation fell 2.5 per cent to 28 cardinal metric tonnes successful 2025–26. This marks a cumulative driblet of 22 per cent since 2014–15, erstwhile the downward inclination archetypal began, the study said.Natural state output successful the state declined 3.7 per cent to 34,776 cardinal metric modular cubic metres successful 2025–26.

Over a longer period, accumulation has seen a dependable contraction, falling 40 per cent from 47,555 mmscm successful 2011–12 to 28,672 mmscm successful 2020–21, pursuing an unexpected driblet successful output from the KG-D6 operated by Reliance Industries.Although the commissioning of caller fields successful the aforesaid artifact led to a 19 per cent year-on-year summation successful nationalist output successful 2021–22, accumulation from these assets has since stabilised. Combined with declining yields from bequest fields operated by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, this has continued to measurement connected wide state output.

An manufacture enforcement attributed the ongoing diminution chiefly to the lack of immoderate large discoveries implicit the past decade. Oil and state reserves people diminish implicit time, and without caller finds being developed, maintaining accumulation levels becomes progressively challenging.He besides pointed retired that companies person not moved rapidly capable to commercialise the resources they person already identified, noting that faster improvement could person helped prolong output.Another manufacture enforcement said that concerns implicit argumentation unpredictability, on with comparatively humble assets prospects, person discouraged investment. Reviving lipid and state accumulation successful India volition necessitate important caller spending connected exploration, helium added.