Oil sales to rise 5.4 per cent, Govt

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) The government today said that the country's domestic sales for oil products will rise to 5.4 pr cent by March 2007.

Speaking at a Roadshow on New Exploration License Policy (NELP), Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said the crude oil imports, are expected to rise nine percent next fiscal year to about 110 million tonnes which is about 2.2 million Barrels Per Day (bpd).

He said sales of domestic oil product in 2006/07 would rise to 118 million tonnes from 112 million tonnes this year.

Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the Roadshow, ONGC Chairman Subir Raha said the state owned company would increase its spending on oil exploration within the country by 17 per cent ONGC's expenditure on exploration is estimated to rise 15 percent, Mr Raha said.

He said ONGC would start producing one million cubic metres of gas a day from the Bay of Bengal area in May and double output after a year.

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