India’s natural gas production dropped 10 per cent in July, according to Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. It produced 2,443 million standard cubic meter per day (mmscmd) of gas in July 2020, as compared to 2,718 mmscmd produced in the corresponding period last year. As per PPAC, the net production for sale of gas to consuming sectors such power, fertilizer, city gas distribution, refinery and petrochemicals was about 76.3 per cent of the gross production during July 2020.
The drop in production further led to increase in imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 6 per cent to 2,963 mmscmd during the month as against 2,795 mmscmd imported in July 2019. In all, India had a total 4,827 mmscmd of natural gas available for sale during July 2020. This is a drop of 1.7 per cent from gas available in the corresponding month last year.
The total consumption of gas in July 2020 stood at 4,414 mmscmd. The fertiliser sector accounted for 33 per cent of the total consumption, followed by power and refineries sectors with a share of 22 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.