ONGC eyes doubling gas production in 5-6 years

New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Tuesday said it plans to double gas production to over 100 million standard cubic meters per day in the next 5-6 years.

In a statement issued on Independence Day celebrations at the company's headquarters in Dehradun, ONGC said despite tumbling oil prices in the last three years, it not only sustained production from existing fields through incremental inputs but has also taken large meaningful and calculated investment decisions to ensure sustained volumes and financial growth.

Government is targeting increase in share of gas in the energy basket from 6.5 per cent to 15 per cent in the next few years.

ONGC said 17 projects with a combined capex of Rs 76,000 crore have been approved in the last three years.

"These projects would produce 69 million tonnes of crude oil and 118 billion cubic meters of natural gas during their profile period. Cumulative production from these projects would peak during 2020-21 at 6.65 million tonnes of crude and 13.38 BCM of gas which is 45 per cent of company's oil and gas standalone production during FY17," it said.

Its flagship project includes Cluster-II in Bay of Bengal block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5). The project would produce about 25 million tonnes of oil and 50 BCM of gas over the life of the project with peak production of 4 million tonnes of oil and 5.5 BCM of gas.

This would be equivalent to 17 per cent and 24 per cent of ONGC's current standalone oil and gas production, respectively.

During the last three years, ONGC completed 15 production related projects (including 8 brownfield and 7 greenfield) with capital investment of Rs 54,000 crore.

"These would produce 87 million tonnes of crude and 56 BCM of gas during their profile period," the statement said, adding during FY17, ONGC produced 5 million tonnes of crude and 3.5 BCM of gas from these projects, which is 22 per cent and 16 per cent of its standalone crude and gas production, respectively.

Stating that it made 23 hydrocarbon finds with a total reserve accretion of 65 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2016-17, ONGC said its onshore assets have reversed declining trend in production, persisting for several years, by registering crude production at 5.97 million tonnes in FY17 as against 5.82 million tonnes in FY16.