India’s crude oil production fell 3.8 per cent in July on lower output from fields operated by state-owned ONGC and private sector firms, government data released on Tuesday showed.

Production of crude oil, which is refined to produce fuels such as petrol and diesel, fell to 2.45 million tonnes in July from 2.54 million tonnes a year back. The output was lower than the monthly target of 2.59 million tonnes, the data released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas showed.

 Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced 1.7 per cent less oil at 1.63 million tonnes on lower output from western offshore. Fields operated by private firms saw a 12.34 per cent decline in production.

 But the oil production during the first four months of the current fiscal that began on April 1 was only marginally lower at 9.91 million tonnes as opposed to 9.96 million tonnes during April-July 2021.

 Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on August 4 tweeted that the declining trend in crude oil production has been reversed.

 “We have already been able to reverse the declining trend in oil production from 2011-12 with an expected 29.7 million tonnes in 2021-22 to 30.8 million tonnes in 2022-23 & 34 million tonnes (estimated) in 2023-24, and are confident of rapidly ramping up the nation’s oil production in the years to come,” he had said.

 According to the ministry data, ONGC’s oilfields in Gujarat and Assam produced less oil while Vedanta’s Rajasthan block had a lower output. Natural gas output was almost unchanged at 2.88 billion cubic meters in July but was 3.4 per cent higher during April-July at 11.43 bcm, according to the data released Tuesday.

 ONGC’s gas output was almost 4 per cent lower in July due to less gas production in the Daman field in Mumbai offshore. The country’s 22 oil refineries processed 10.52 per cent more crude oil at 21.43 million tonnes as demand for fuel picked up.

 Domestically produced crude oil forms just 15 per cent of the processing at refineries, the rest being imported oil.