ONGC gas output drops by one-tenth as shut factories refuse supplies

With the unprecedented nationwide lockdown shutting down factories, ONGCNSE 1.22 % has been forced to cut natural gas production by up to one-tenth as customers refused to take supplies because of business disruption. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which produced 64.5 million standard cubic meters of gas per day till earlier this week, has reduced the flow to 59.8 mmscmd on Wednesday, and will further cut by another 3 mmscmd on Thursday, sources aware of the development said.

The company has received requests from customers for reduction in gas supplies of around 7.7 mmscmd. Besides this, another 4-5 mmscmd supply reduction requests have been lodged with the gas transporter GAIL. The sources said these customers are largely small companies whose business has been completely shut because of the lockdown,