India’s oil and gas major ONGC Ltd said it is in the process of investing Rs 83,000 cr in various projects that will boost its oil and gas output.
Shashi Shanker said the investment of Rs 83,000 crore rupees will be done via 25 projects. “15 of these projects currently under execution will directly contribute to oil and gas production”, said Mr. Shanker.
The increase in output due to this investment will be around 180 million tons of oil equivalent, CMD Shashi Shanker said during his yearly independence day address.
Assuming that the 180 million ton figure was referring to the 25 projects (and not the 15 projects already started), the return on investment works out 1 ton (7.15 barrels) of oil for about Rs 4,611 invested, or about Rs 644 ($9.3) invested to produce one barrel of oil.
The company also said these projects will partly help it meet its target of raising its gas output to 32 billion cubic meters (around 88 mmscmd) by FY24 from 25.82 billion cubic meters in the year ended March 2019.
This implies a growth of 24% over a period of 5 years, or 4.4% per year. ONGC’s gas output jumped 6.5% in FY19.
The company seems to anticipate continued demand for its oil and gas products, even though many believe that much of the demand for energy will be met via non-fossil fuel sources in coming years.
However, ONGC CMD talked about a plan, named Energy Strategy 2040, which will increase the company’s revenue to three times in exploration and production, refining, marketing and other businesses.
It will also increase its profit to four times current, with 10% contribution from non-oil and gas business, he said.
In FY19, ONGC posted its highest ever revenue of Rs 1,09,655 Crores – an increase of 29% from the previous year. It also reported net profit of Rs 26,716 crore, an increase of 34%. The company had, during the year, purchased Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, one of the top three oil refining and retailing companies in the country.
During last year, ONGC’s foreign arm, ONGC Videsh, recorded production of 14.83 million tons of oil equivalent.
In downstream refining, MRPL achieved highest ever throughput of 16.43 MMT with a utilization of 109.5%. Newly acquired HPCL also achieved the highest ever sales volume of 38.7 MMT with a domestic sales growth of 4.7%.