India’s crude oil output declined for the second straight month in November as production by Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and non-state companies dropped. Asia’s second-biggest energy consumer pumped 3.1 million metric tons of oil last month, 5.7 percent lower than a year earlier, the oil ministry said in a statement today, without providing reasons for the fall. Production by state-owned ONGC, the nation’s largest energy explorer, fell 4.2 percent to 1.9 million tons, the ministry said. The company’s Mumbai High fields produced 1.3 million tons, a decline of 5.3 percent. The fields, 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, account for 42 percent of India’s oil output. Production by non-state explorers fell 11.7 percent to 833,200 tons. Output from offshore areas, where companies including Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and BG Group Plc operate, declined 28 percent. In Rajasthan state, where Cairn India Ltd. (CAIR) operates the country’s biggest onshore oil deposit, production rose 0.1 percent to 524,700 tons, according to the data. Cairn India started the field in August 2009. Oil India Ltd., the second-biggest state-run crude producer, reported a 3.3 percent increase in output to 311,200 tons, according to the statement. Natural gas output in the country fell for the 12th straight month, declining 10 percent to 3.8 billion cubic meters, according to the data. To contact the reporter on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net

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