Question : Crude Oil Production

(a) whether crude oil production has gone down by 0.6 percent to 2.93 million tonnes in April, 2017 and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken to produce more crude oil in the country and encourage domestic production;
(b) whether oil companies have shut down some wells and if so, the details thereof along with number of oil rigs exploring oil and gas in the country, company/oil blocks-wise;
(c) whether the Cairn India produced more than fifty percent crude oil in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the revenue and employment generated by the said company;
(d) whether fuel demand rose by 5.4 percent in May due to surge in petrol consumption and the fastest increase in diesel use during the preceding nine months and if so, the details thereof along with the quantum of fuel consumed during May, 2017 as compared to last year; and
(e) whether fuel demand plunged 5.9 per cent in January, 3.1 per cent in February and 0.7 per cent in March, 2017 after demonetisation before rebounding in April, 2017 and if so, the details thereof?

(a). Domestic crude oil production for the month of April 2017 was 2939 Thousand Metric Tons (TMT). Crude oil production by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) during April, 2017 was 1847.16 TMT which is 2.51% higher when compared with April, 2016. Crude oil production by Oil India Ltd. (OIL) during April, 2017 was 273.24 TMT which is 4.53% higher than production in April, 2016. Crude oil production by Pvt/JVs during April, 2017 was 818.45 TMT which is 8.44% lower than April, 2016.
Government, inter-alia, has taken following Policy initiative to enhance domestic production of oil and gas:-
i. Policy for Relaxations, Extensions and clarifications under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon Discoveries, 2014.
ii. Policy on Testing Requirements, 2015.
iii. Discovered Small Field Policy, 2015.
iv. Policy for exploration in Mining Lease Area, 2013.
v. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, 2016.
vi. Policy for Extension of Production Sharing Contracts, 2016.
vii. Shale Gas Policy, 2013.
viii. Setting up of National Data Repository, 2017.
ix. Appraisal of Unappraised area in Sedimentary Basin.
x. Re-assessment of Hydrocarbon Resources.
xi. Policy for early monetization of Coal Bed Methane (CBM)
(b). Few wells were closed for work over and a few wells were closed for high water production in Mangala Field of RJ-ON-90/1 Block in the state of Rajasthan. During the life of the well, production from an oil well may cease for various reasons, such as natural decline in reservoir pressure, water/sand ingress and wellbore mechanical problems etc. Such sick wells are revived through well workover/intervention jobs, if economically viable. ONGC has deployed 70 rigs for onland fields and 37 rigs for offshore fields. OIL has deployed 21 rigs in its onland fields. The rigs deployed by Cairn India Ltd., Mercator and Focus Energy Ltd. are 2, 1 and 6 rigs respectively.
(c). Crude oil produced by Cairn India from three blocks operated by it is 9352 Thousand Metric Tons during the year 2016-17 against 36008 Thousand Metric Tons of country’s total crude oil production. However, there are other consortium partners with Cairn India namely ONGC, Videocon Industries Ltd., Tata Petrodyne Ltd., Ravva oil Singapore and Cairn Energy Holding Ltd etc. Cairn India has generated cumulative revenue of USD 1.89 billion during the year 2016-17. Production of oil and gas generates skilled and unskilled employment. Besides direct employment, indirect employment through ancillary industry is also generated.
(d) & (e). The fuel consumed in May, 2017 is 9927 Thousand Metric Tons as compared to 9041 Thousand Metric Tons consumed in May, 2016. Details of fuel consumed in the preceding nine months are given at Annexure.