The country’s crude import in April was almost flat at 18.26 million tonnes (mt) compared with last month as a lockdown in several states has hit demand.

However, it rose 10.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data showed. The year-on-year rise in imports could be attributed to the lower imports last year, when the country first went into a national lockdown.

The data showed that oil products’ imports rose about 24.1 per cent to 3.50mt on an annual basis, but it was down 14.6 per cent from March, while exports slumped 35.8per cent.

Diesel accounted for a major share of the 3.88 million tonnes of exports in April, at 1.86 million tonnes. However, they fell 39.4 per cent from the preceding month and were down 45.3 per cent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, natural gas production jumped 22.7 per cent in April after Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner BP Plc ramped up output from their eastern offshore KG-D6 block, government data released today showed.

India produced 2.65 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in April up from 2.16 bcm in the same month last year.

ONGC’s production was flat at 1.72 bcm.

ONGC tender on hold

The Delhi high court has put on hold state-run ONGC’s notice inviting a tender (NIT) and the consequent e-auction with regard to sale of natural gas from its block in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.

A bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said a prima facie case is made out in favour of the petitioners — two GMR group companies — and balance of convenience was also in their favour as finalisation of the bidding would cause irreparable loss to them.