India’s crude oil import dependency rose to an all-time high of 90 per cent during April 2025 as it procured more cargoes to meet the demand of an expanding industrial and commercial base.
The rising dependence is also reflected on the continuously declining production in the nomination blocks operated by State-run E&P majors — ONGC and OIL — which accounts for more than 75 per cent of India’s overall output. Production by the PVT/ JVs companies in the Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) or Revenue Sharing Contracts (RSC) regime has also been languishing.
According to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), India’s import dependency of crude oil, on POL (Petroleum, Oil & Lubricants) basis rose to its highest on record at 90 per cent in April 2025, compared with 88.5 per cent and 88.6 per cent during the same month in 2024 and 2023 calendar years, respectively.
In FY25, the country’s crude oil import dependence rose to 88.2 per cent compared with 87.4 per cent and 85.5 per cent during FY24 and FY23, respectively, data from PPAC show.
According to the recent India Energy Scenario report — brought out by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Power Ministry — crude oil production, that accounts for roughly one-fourth of India’s gross imports, declined by 3 per cent per annum in the last seven years, ending FY24.
“In FY24, the domestic production of oil was 29.4 million tonnes (mt), decreasing significantly from 36 mt in FY17, declining at the annual rate of 3 per cent,” the report said.
It attributed the decline to several factors, including natural depletion of older and marginal fields, accessibility and technical challenges in certain reservoirs, disruptions in field activities, etc.
ONGC and OIL contributed around 65 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively, in FY24, with the remaining 24 per cent crude oil being produced by Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) or Revenue Sharing Contracts (RSC) regime.
In a January 2025 report, Fitch Ratings said: “We expect India’s crude oil production to fall by 2-3 per cent in FY25. The fall reflects the ongoing struggle of companies like ONGC to arrest the natural output decline at mature fields through technology investments to raise recovery and tap isolated reservoirs.”
However, production should grow by low single-digit percentages in FY26, as production increases at ONGC’s offshore field in the KG Basin, and at privately owned fields, it added.
India’s estimated balanced recoverable crude oil reserves in the country was 671.4 mt as of April 1, 2024 reflecting a 0.3 per cent increase from the previous year’s reserves at 669.47 mt.
The ratings agency expects India’s crude oil import dependency to continue rising in the near term, driven by faster growth in petroleum product demand than in domestic crude oil production.
Fitch Ratings expects India’s petroleum product demand to rise by 3-4 per cent in FY25, compared with increases of 3 per cent in 7MFY25 and 5 per cent in FY24.
“This is supported by rising consumer, industrial and infrastructure demand, as we project India’s GDP growth at 6.4 per cent in FY25. The growth in petroleum product demand is likely to be broad-based, with diesel and petrol accounting for the majority,”it added.
Production of petroleum products increased from 244 mt in FY17 to 276 mt in FY24, with a 2 per cent annual increase over the last seven years, pointed out the India Energy Scenario report.
Import of petroleum products rose annually by 4 per cent while exports declined by 1 per cent due to rising domestic demand during the same period, it added.
Published on May 21, 2025
India’s crude oil import dependency rose to an all-time high of 90 per cent during April 2025 as it procured more cargoes to meet the demand of an expanding industrial and commercial base.
The rising dependence is also reflected on the continuously declining production in the nomination blocks operated by State-run E&P majors — ONGC and OIL — which accounts for more than 75 per cent of India’s overall output. Production by the PVT/ JVs companies in the Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) or Revenue Sharing Contracts (RSC) regime has also been languishing.
According to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), India’s import dependency of crude oil, on POL (Petroleum, Oil & Lubricants) basis rose to its highest on record at 90 per cent in April 2025, compared with 88.5 per cent and 88.6 per cent during the same month in 2024 and 2023 calendar years, respectively.
In FY25, the country’s crude oil import dependence rose to 88.2 per cent compared with 87.4 per cent and 85.5 per cent during FY24 and FY23, respectively, data from PPAC show.
According to the recent India Energy Scenario report — brought out by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Power Ministry — crude oil production, that accounts for roughly one-fourth of India’s gross imports, declined by 3 per cent per annum in the last seven years, ending FY24.
“In FY24, the domestic production of oil was 29.4 million tonnes (mt), decreasing significantly from 36 mt in FY17, declining at the annual rate of 3 per cent,” the report said.
It attributed the decline to several factors, including natural depletion of older and marginal fields, accessibility and technical challenges in certain reservoirs, disruptions in field activities, etc.
ONGC and OIL contributed around 65 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively, in FY24, with the remaining 24 per cent crude oil being produced by Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) or Revenue Sharing Contracts (RSC) regime.
In a January 2025 report, Fitch Ratings said: “We expect India’s crude oil production to fall by 2-3 per cent in FY25. The fall reflects the ongoing struggle of companies like ONGC to arrest the natural output decline at mature fields through technology investments to raise recovery and tap isolated reservoirs.”
However, production should grow by low single-digit percentages in FY26, as production increases at ONGC’s offshore field in the KG Basin, and at privately owned fields, it added.
India’s estimated balanced recoverable crude oil reserves in the country was 671.4 mt as of April 1, 2024 reflecting a 0.3 per cent increase from the previous year’s reserves at 669.47 mt.
The ratings agency expects India’s crude oil import dependency to continue rising in the near term, driven by faster growth in petroleum product demand than in domestic crude oil production.
Fitch Ratings expects India’s petroleum product demand to rise by 3-4 per cent in FY25, compared with increases of 3 per cent in 7MFY25 and 5 per cent in FY24.
“This is supported by rising consumer, industrial and infrastructure demand, as we project India’s GDP growth at 6.4 per cent in FY25. The growth in petroleum product demand is likely to be broad-based, with diesel and petrol accounting for the majority,”it added.
Production of petroleum products increased from 244 mt in FY17 to 276 mt in FY24, with a 2 per cent annual increase over the last seven years, pointed out the India Energy Scenario report.
Import of petroleum products rose annually by 4 per cent while exports declined by 1 per cent due to rising domestic demand during the same period, it added.
Published on May 21, 2025
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The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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