India sees 09/10 oil prod demand up 2.4 pct y/y

NEW DELHI, July 13 (Reuters) - India's oil product demand is estimated to grow 2.4 percent to 136.61 million tonnes in the 2009/10 fiscal year (April/March) although naphtha use would fall, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Monday.

Naphtha consumption was forecast to fall 9.4 percent in the year, according to data tabled in the parliament by Deora in a written reply to a question.

For a table on estimated demand for oil products in 09/10, see [ID:nDEL495630]

The industry expects naphtha consumption to fall due to the increased availability of gas from a major field in the Krishna Godavari basin.

Reliance Industries (RELI.BO) began pumping gas from the KG-D6 block off India's east coast in April, and is expected to reach peak production of 80 million standard cubic metres a day (MMSCMD) by end-2009.

Junior oil minister Jitin Prasada, in a written reply to a separate question, said current gas production was from the block was 31 MMSCMD and it could produce plateau production of 80 MMSCMD for six years.

Under a development plan, Reliance is expected to produce 21.9 billion cubic metres (BCM) a year in the two years ending March 2011.

Annual output would rise to 29.2 BCM until March 2017 and then decline to 21.9 6 BCM in the next year, the minister said. In the year ending March 2019 the block was expected to produce 14.6 MMSCMD.

He said the gas was being supplied to various power, steel and fertiliser plants at a government approved base price of $4.2 per million British thermal units, which was linked to the price of crude oil in the previous financial year. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by John Mair)