Domestic crude output shrinks 4% in 11 months

NEW DELHI: Domestic crude oil output shrank 4% in the eleven months through February from a year earlier, continuing the declining trend for the seventh fiscal year in a row and pushing up India’s dependence on imports.

Imports met 83.8% of local oil needs during April-Feb of 2018-19, up from 75.9% in 2011-12. Local production began falling in 2012-13 and has declined every year since despite billions of dollars of investments in sustaining production from ageing fields and finding new sources of oil.