Domestic oil and gas output has fallen in the last four years and imports have increased even as the government changed the rules for exploration to attract investments.
Crude oil production has declined 4.7 per cent and natural gas by 2.9 per cent since 2014-15, while consumption increased at a healthy annual rate.
Government data showed crude oil production to have fallen to 35 million tonnes (mt) in 2017-18 from 37mt in 214-15. Gas output dropped to 32,649 million metric standard cubic meters (mmscm) from 33,657mmscm during the same period.
