India’s April crude oil production rises a fifth straight month

India’s crude oil production rose for the fifth consecutive month in April, led by Oil India Ltd and non-state companies including Cairn India Ltd., operator of the nation’s biggest onshore field.

Asia’s third-biggest energy consumer pumped 2.9 million metric tonnes of oil last month, 5.2 per cent more than a year earlier, the Oil Ministry said in a statement today. State-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp, the nation’s largest energy explorer, produced 2 million tons of oil in April, little changed from a year earlier, according to the ministry. Output at ONGC’s Mumbai High fields declined 1 per cent to 1.4 million tonnes. The fields, 100 miles (160 kilometres) northwest of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, account for about half of India’s annual oil production. Oil India, the second-biggest crude producer, reported a 3.8 per cent increase in output to 300,000 tonnes, according to the statement. Production by non-state explorers increased 33 per cent to 541,000 tonnes, the government said. Cairn India, a unit of UK- based explorer Cairn Energy Plc, started production from a field in Rajasthan state in August. India’s natural gas output rose for the 14th straight month, increasing by 54.2 per cent to 4.5 billion cubic metres, according to the data. Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s biggest non-state refiner, started producing natural gas from the country’s biggest field in April 2009.