Oil and gas production in India to attain peak in 2027

It is estimated that India’s oil and gas production between 2023-2032 is expected to achieve a mid-decade peak around 2027, primarily due to Krishna Godavari (KG)-Basin projects operated by Reliance Industries Limited and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

These are old discoveries that have been in development for a while and coming online during 2023. These projects include Cluster 2A in KG-DWN-98/2 and the Dhirubhai 55 (MJ) field.

The KG-Basin is a petroliferous margin basin and is spread over more than 50,000 square kilometres in the Krishna rriver and Godavari river basins in Andhra Pradesh. The site is known for the D-6 block where Reliance Industries discovered the biggest natural gas reserves in India in 2003. KG inland and offshore basins have proven to be major prospects of unconventional tight oil and tight gas reserves from conducted field studies.

The oil ministry last June said India would allow operators to sell locally produced crude in the domestic market without restrictions. Under the previous policy, the operator of a field could not directly sell locally produced crude into the market and needed government permission for any sale of crude and condensate within the country. But under the new policy, the government would cease its function of allocating domestic crude and condensate output.

Highlighting plans on clean and green energy, oil ministry said that the government was working on a four-pronged strategy — diversification of supplies, an increase of alternate energy sources like biofuels, ethanol, compressed biogas, increasing the E&P footprint, and pursuing the adoption of EVs and hydrogen.

Meanwhile, India’s oil demand rose 9 per cent year on year to 20.03 million mt, or 5.1 million b/d, in May, according to data by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. Over the cumulative January-May period, the demand for diesel, petrol and jet fuel rose by 8.4 per cent, 8.7 per cent, and 27.9 per cent year on year, respectively.