India’s state-controlled ONGC expects to produce 44.546mn t of oil equivalent of crude oil and natural gas by the April 2025-March 2026 fiscal year, up by 11pc from 2022-23.
It sees oil output increasing to 20.23mn t (148.3mn b/d) by 2023-24 and 20.838mn t by 2025-26, from 19.584mn t in 2022-23. It expects natural gas output to hit 20.882bn m³ (57.2mn m³/d) by 2023-24 and 23.708bn m³ by 2025-26, from 20.63bn m³ in 2022-23.
ONGC is India’s largest oil and gas producer and any growth in its output will boost India’s efforts to enhance domestic oil and gas production to reduce dependence on imports.
The firm has 22 major projects under implementation with an expected output of 94mn t of oil equivalent in the coming years, along with a strong pipeline of over 40 upcoming projects, ONGC chairman Arun Kumar Singh said.
Exploration acreage area is also set to increase to 500,000km² by 2025-26 from 162,000km² currently.
The firm has set a capital expenditure of over 300bn rupees ($3.62bn, focusing on exploration and rejuvenation of matured western offshore fields.
These investments are alongside ONGC’s target to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. It is also set to invest another Rs1 trillion in green energy initiatives, including setting up renewable energy capacity as well as green ammonia, green hydrogen and offshore wind energy projects, and developing carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology.
The company currently has 189MW of renewable energy generation capacity and is targeting 10GW by 2030 with this investment, according to its annual report.
During 2022-26, ONGC is planning to set up 25 compressed biogas plants, 5GW of renewable energy capacity in Rajasthan, a 1mn t/yr green ammonia plant and wind energy projects, details of which are not yet known.
Petrochemical plans
ONGC will continue to transform 40-60pc of its feedstock crude into chemicals, and aims to increase its petrochemical capacity to over 8mn t/yr by 2030 from 34mn t/yr currently.
“ONGC is collaborating with other entities to explore opportunities in the oil to chemical, refining and petrochemicals value chain by setting up two greenfield [oil-to-chemical] (O2C) plants in India,” Singh said. Further details of the O2C projects are not yet known.
Petrochemical demand is expected to remain strong and will continue to be a key driver of oil and gas demand in the future, he added.
Singh previously said state-controlled refiner MRPL is going ahead with plans to expand its petrochemical business. ONGC is MRPL’s main shareholder with a 72pc stake.
MRPL will focus on establishing a petrochemical plant on India’s west coast and the expansion programme is under configuration, the company’s general manager M Venkatesh told Argus at the end of May, but did not give further details.
By Rituparna Ghosh
