India oil production misses target

NEW DELHI, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Crude oil production in India was up 5 percent from September to 680,000 barrels per day but fell short of October targets, Oil Ministry data showed.

Indian refineries put out around 680,000 barrels per day in October, up from 647,400 barrels per day in the previous month. The output target for October, however, was 861,648 bpd, the Platts news service said.

Total production for the first seven months of the fiscal year fell 0.76 percent to 4.6 million barrels compared with the same period in 2007.

The Indian Oil Ministry said the privately held Reliance Industries Ltd. produced 28 percent less than its planned 932,000 bpd in October, though the Essar Oil refinery offset some of those losses.

Meanwhile, natural gas production fell around 1 percent in October to about 100 billion cubic feet because of production delays at the offshore Krishna-Godavari Basin block.

India is facing a looming energy crunch as demand far outpaces supply. It has approached Iran to join the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline to import natural gas from the Iranian South Pars field.