Domestic natural gas production fell by 11.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY to 27,642 million metric standard cubic metre (mmscm) in 2020. The fall is being attributed to operations becoming unviable for energy production companies as the government lowered selling prices. Domestic natural gas output fell by 2.8 per cent YoY to 31,168.4 mmscm in 2020, thereby reversing the growth trend recorded since 2018.
Domestic production has been falling with the ageing of existing fields and lukewarm response from the industry to take up new projects, mainly due to lack of adequate incentives. Moreover, as per Care Ratings the gross production of domestic natural gas will fall by 10.6 per cent during 2021 as no company would be willing to increase production or get into high-risk projects with a low gas price.