ONGC's share in India's oil and gas production jumps to 70%

Firm’s output was under 53% a decade back. While ONGC maintained production levels, output by other operators has dropped, leading to an overall fall in country’s output

NEW DELHI: State-owned ONGC, which is often perceived as a drag on the crude oil and natural gas produced in the country, has actually seen its contribution to the national production jump to over 70 per cent from under 53 per cent a decade back, petroleum ministry data showed.

While Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) maintained production levels, output by other operators has dropped, leading to an overall fall in India’s output and a sharp rise in import dependency.

Its standalone production at 47.51 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas in 2010-11 was 52.8 per cent of a total of 89.91 million tonnes of oil and gas produced in the country that year, the data showed.

Despite having the majority of fields where the natural decline has set after being in operations for more than four decades, ONGC maintained production throughout the last decade thereafter and had an output of 44.57 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas in 2019-20, which was 70.3 per cent of India’s total production of 63.353 million tonnes.