India's ONGC Videsh sees lower oil, gas output in 2012/13

NEW DELHI, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Oil and gas output from India's ONGC Videsh in 2012/13 will be less than last fiscal year's 8.7 million tonnes, its managing director said on Monday.

Output from a south Sudan field has been halted over disputes, while production from Syrian fields has declined, D.K. Sarraf told reporters.

State-run explorer ONGC invests in foreign assets through its unit ONGC Videsh Ltd.

"Production in north Sudan is almost normal, but south Sudan will take some months," Sarraf said. "Other than Sudan and Syria, we would try to catch up the production (from other fields) at last year's level, but some fields are also declining."

He hoped that output from overseas assets could get a boost from the next fiscal year as new fields in A1 and A3 in Myanmar would be commissioned.

India, the world's fourth-biggest oil importer, buys nearly 80 percent of its oil needs as expanding refining capacity has outpaced local oil output. ONGC's local oil output has been almost stagnant for years. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)