The country's crude oil production dropped marginally by 0.4 per cent in thefirst nine months of the 1999-2000 fiscal, just when crude prices wereskyrocketting to new heights. Natural gas production dipped marginally. Thethroughput of petroleum refineries jumped 21.9 per cent, which only seemslike a big leap till the 27.54 per cent increase in oil refining capacitycomes to light.

The total crude produced between April and December 1999 was 24.28 milliontonne, which was 0.4 per cent lower than in the first nine months of1998-99. The country produced 24.38 million tonne of crude oil between Apriland December 1998, when crude prices were moving downhill.

The joint ventures between the national oil companies and the private sectordoubled their crude output to three million tonne from 1.9 million tonne inthe first nine months of the 1998-99 fiscal. The joint ventures are entitledto international prices for crude.

ONGC, which like Oil India Limited (OIL) is entitled to 77.5 per cent of theglobal price, saw its crude output dip to 18.8 million tonne between Apriland December of 1999, from 19.92 million tonne in the corresponding monthsof 1998. Oil India's crude output remained stagnant at 2.47 million tonne.

ONGC suffered a setback in oil production because of power problems inGujarat and well problems in the Bombay High. The Gujarat wells of ONGC werehit by frequent power shutdowns, increase in water scarcity and ceasure ofwells in Gandhar. Its Ankleswar wells also did not live up toexpectations.

Natural gas production dropped marginally from 14.948 billion cubic metresin the first nine months of the 1998-99 fiscal to 14.941 billion cubicmetres in the first nine months of this year. Onshore gas production went upto 4.35 billion cubic metres from 4.09 billion cubic metres in April andDecember 1998.

Gas production at the Bombay High dropped to 10.58 billion cubic metres inthe first nine months of this fiscal, compared to 10.85 billion cubic metresbetween April and December 1998, bringing down the total supply of gas.The throughput of the 17 petroleum refineries in the country was a whopping61 million tonne compared to 50.08 million tonne between April and December1998, when the country had only 14 oil refineries. The capacity utilisationof the refineries was, however, lower at 94.1 per cent in this fiscal,compared to 98.4 per cent in 1998-99.

The commissioning of Reliance Petroleum's Jamnagar refinery, the NumaligarhRefinery and IOC's Panipat refinery, along with capacity additions of theexisting refineries resulted in a 27.54 per cent jump in refining capacity.The throughput of the refineries only increased by 21.92 per cent incomparison.

The prorated installed petroleum refining capacity went up to 64.91 milliontonne during 1999 from 50.89 million tonne. The actual throughput of therefineries only increased to 61.06 million tonne from 50.08 million tonnebetween April and December 1998.

The output of petroleum refineries suffered because several refineries optedfor shutdowns, apparently for mechanical repairs and maintenance. TheNumaligarh Refinery for instance, has been shutdown for maintenance barelymonths after it went on stream. The fire at Indian Oil's Panipat refineryand the delayed start-up of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's (HPCL's)Visakhapatnam refinery resulted in unscheduled cuts in refinery output.

Planned shutdowns for annual turnaround jobs and other technical reasonswere resorted to by Indian Oil's Gujarat refinery, Cochin Refineries Limitedand Reliance Petroleum's Jamnagar refinery.