India's crude oil production fell by 5 percent in November primarily due to a sharp drop in output at Rajasthan oilfields operated by private sector Cairn Vedanta, government data showed on Tuesday. India is dependent on imports for 85 percent of its needs and the government is pushing domestic explorers to raise output to help cut down imports.

Crude oil production in November at 2.48 million tonnes was lower than 2.61 million tonnes produced in the same month a year back. Rajasthan fields produced 9.6 percent less crude oil at 476,990 tonnes as Mangala, Aishwarya and other fields in the Cairn block flowed less oil for a variety of reasons, according to data released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced 1.5 percent less oil largely due to lesser than the anticipated output at newer fields.

Oil India Ltd produced 6.6 percent less oil from Assam due to protests/agitation in the state following the Baghjan blowout. During April-November, India's oil production was 6 percent lower at 20.42 million tonnes. The output from Rajasthan during this period dropped 16 percent to 3.91 million tonnes. Natural gas production in the country fell 9 percent to 2.3 billion cubic meters in November largely due to a fall in eastern offshore field output. ONGC produced 3.7 percent less gas after the Hazira processing plant was shut down for maintenance. Gas output during April-November was 18.7 bcm, down 11.8 percent over the previous year.

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