Friday, February 20, 2004
ONGC targets 20 mt equity oil abroad by 2010
Reuters New Delhi, February 19
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) aims to produce 20 million tonne a year of equity oil and gas abroad by 2010, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said on Thursday.
"With a long-term target of acquiring 60 million tonne per annum of equity oil and gas overseas by 2025, ONGC is currently working towards a goal of 20 million tonne a year by 2010".
In October, Naik said India's overseas equity oil output was likely to rise to 13 million tonne a year or about 260,000 bpd by 2007.
State-run exploration firm ONGC's overseas investment arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd, holds equity in oil and gas projects in Sudan, Russia and Vietnam and has interests in exploration blocks in Iran, Myanmar, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Sudan.
The Government is prepared to spend $1 billion a year for 15 years to buy stakes abroad and is supporting ONGC which is competing with Chinese and Malaysian firms for grabbing stakes in foreign projects.
India, which imports 70 per cent of its crude oil requirement, is wooing foreign firms to explore in the country and aggressively investing abroad as output from its biggest domestic fields is declining.
India's current five-year plan has proposed an expenditure of Rs 130 billion ($2.9 billion) on overseas oil projects between 2002 and 2007.
India produced 33 million tonne of crude oil or about 660,000 barrels per day in the year ended March 2003.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.