Production of Crude Oil in India

Production of Crude Oil in India In 1950-51,' the production of crude oil in India was 0.3 MT, at Digboi in Assam. The western oil monopolies had created an impres­sion that India had no significant oil resources. But more positive signals were received from the friendly sources. In 1959, through an act of Parliament, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) was created to take over the activities of the Oil and Natural Gas Directorate (set up in 1956).

The ONGC struck oil in Ankaleshwar in Gujarat, in Cambay Basin in Gujarat and discovered more oil reserves in Assam. The Oil India Limited (OIL) was set up in 1959 as a joint sector company; it became a fully central government owned enterprise in 1981. It operates in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and offshore areas of Mahanadi Basin and the Andaman islands. The OIL struck oil in Arunachal Pradesh in 1987-88 and discovered more oil fields in Assam.

Till 1970, the entire crude oil production expansion was based on the new oil reserves in Gujarat and further oil reserves discovered in Assam. But, the discovery and development of offshore oil resources in the Bombay High Basin in the 1970s changed the oil situation. The crude production rose from a level of 11.7 MT in 1979-80 t MT in 1984-85, to cope with the second oil crisis of ] Domestic crude oil production reached the peak levj 33 metric million tonnes in 1990-91.