Asia Crude-India ONGC to issue only one Sokol cargo for Sept

NEW DELHI, July 9 (Reuters) - India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) will issue only one tender to sell 700,000 barrels of Sakhalin-1 light sweet Sokol crude for September loading, a company official said on Wednesday, as output falls.

The state-run explorer regularly sells two parcels of 700,000 barrels of the grade via tenders each month.

"Production is declining. It is a natural decline ... For September loading, there will be only one cargo for OVL," Anupam Mathur, commercial director at the firm's overseas investment arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), told Reuters.

ONGC holds a 20-percent stake in the field operated by ExxonMobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research). Production peaked briefly at 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year but is expected to fall to 160,000-165,000 bpd this year.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Editing by Mark Williams)