MUMBAI: India’s leading upstream firm, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), is investing Rs 83,000 crore in 25 projects, its chairman and managing director Shashi Shanker told employees on Thursday. Currently, under execution, 15 of these projects would directly contribute to oil and gas production, Shanker said.
“The cumulative oil and gas gain from these projects is expected to be over 180 million metric tonnes of oil equivalents in their life cycle,” he said. ONGC has been struggling to lift its crude oil production with ageing fields. On the natural gas side, it said, the production outlook is encouraging. It is looking at a potential gas output of over 32 billion cubic metres by 2024. The company has planned a major capex for its eastern offshore deepwater project, which it is betting on to lift its natural gas production.
The cluster-2 in KG Basin, one of the biggest projects of ONGC, is expected to start oil production by March 2021, and gas production by December 2019. “Cluster-2 development will have water depths ranging from 350-1,400 m and is one of the most capital-intensive and technologically challenging projects in East Coast of India,” ONGC had said.
ONGC CMD also said the company’s ambitious ‘Energy Strategy 2040’ would see its revenues grow three times across E&P, refining, marketing and other businesses; four times the current profit after tax with 10 per cent contribution from non-oil and gas business, and five to six times jump in market capitalisation.