By Saurabh Chaturvedi NEW DELHI--India's crude oil production in June fell marginally from a year earlier and natural gas output continued its declining trend. Crude oil output fell 0.6% from a year earlier to 3.12 million metric tons, or 762,320 barrels a day, oil ministry data showed Thursday. That also missed the government's target of 3.16 million tons for the month. State-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp.'s (500312.BY) crude oil production fell 1% to 1.83 million tons, or 447,130 barrels a day, as it shut down a few wells last month citing technical issues. The company, India's top energy explorer by output, was also hit by smaller-than-expected production from a new well and delays in commissioning some projects. Natural gas output fell 16.7% to 2.94 billion cubic meters, missing the government's estimate of 3.14 billion cubic meters. Falling production from Reliance Industries Ltd.'s (500325.BY) oil and gas block off the east coast is pulling down India's total gas output. The company blames reservoir complexities and water ingress in the block for falling output and in February it announced a plan to spend $5 billion in three-to-five years along with partner BP PLC to boost output. India meets about three quarters of its energy requirement through imports.

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