Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s natural gas production has hit an all-time high of about 70 million Standard Cubic Meters per day as it doubles up efforts to raise domestic output to curb imports, sources privy to the development said.

ONGC produced about 64 million standard Cubic Meters per day of gas in November last year and this year the output is close to touching 70 mmscmd, sources said.

After accounting for internal consumption, gas sales at about 56 mmscmd too are at an all-time high.

The output can rise by 24-25 mmscmd in next 1-2 years if the company gets market price that will make about 35 billion cubic meters of recoverable reserves in discoveries in the shallow sea off Andhra Pradesh on the east and off Gujarat and Mumbai on the west coast blocks economically viable.

Natural gas is the fastest growing primary energy source in the world. It is the cleanest burning petroleum-based fuel and has wide applications — from being used to generate electricity to the running of automobiles (CNG) and firing kitchen stoves.