New Delhi: In an important step toward country’s energy security, state-owned oil explorer ONGC plans to double its gas production in the next 5-6 years, company’s CMD Dinesh K. Sarraf said on Tuesday. Mr Sarraf said in the past 3 years, despite oil prices tumbling to record lows, ONGC has not only sustained production from its existing fields through incremental inputs but also taken large meaningful and calculated investment decisions to ensure sustained volumes and financial growth.
“Share of gas in India’s energy basket is set to increase from 6.5 per cent to 15 per cent. The government is focused on making our economy gas based,” he said. Talking about ONGC’s plans, Mr Sarraf said that many of ONGC’s new projects are gas based. “We have flagged off 17 production related projects with a capex of Rs 76,000 crore in the last three years. These projects would produce 69 mmt of crude oil and 118 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas during their profile period. Cumulative production from these projects would peak during 2020-21 at 6.65 MMT of crude and 13.38 BCM of gas which is 45 per cent of our oil and gas standalone production during FY’17”, he said.
