New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, produced a record 12.57 million tonnes of crude oil and equivalent gas from its assets abroad in 2016-17.
The output was up from 8.92 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas in the previous fiscal 2015-16, OVL Managing Director Narendra K Verma said. In its over five-decade existence, which began in 1965 with a venture in Iran, OVL has seen a peak production of 9.45 million tonnes in 2010-11.
"Production in 2016-17 was higher on account of acquisition of stake in Russia's Vankor oil field," Verma told PTI here. For 2017-18, the company is targeting 14.37 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas production.
OVL last year bought 26 per cent stake in Vankor field in two tranches. First it acquired 15 per cent in May 2016 for USD 1.268 billion, and then another 11 per cent in October2016 for USD 930 million.
It received its 15 per cent share of oil from Vankor for the almost 11 months but 11 per cent share was only for a part of year as the deal. This fiscal, it will get full 26 per cent share. OVL's share of oil from Vankor will be 7.3 million tonnes.
Besides OVL's 26 per cent, a consortium of comprising Oil India (OIL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat PetroResources (BPRL) has acquired 23.9 per cent stake in the field at a cost of USD 2.02 billion, giving them 6.56 million tonnes of oil.
The daily production from the field is around 410,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 26% stake would give OVL about 107,000 bpd. OVL has 37 projects in 17 countries. Of this, 14 assets in 10 countries are producing and four in a similar number of countries are under development, he said.
Verma said OVL's next incremental production will come from Columbia where it has made a significant discovery and from Iran where it is negotiating a contract for a gas field it had discovered.
OVL plans to spend USD 1 billion in the current fiscal to drill new wells and add production facilities in fields from Russia to Venezuela. The company has 633 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas reserves in its assets abroad.
Acquisition of Vankor added 72.58 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas (15 per cent) and 51.96 million tones (11 per cent) of reserves to its portfolio. Though the company had been in existence since 1965, its first production started only in 2002-03. In its first three decades, it did no major acquisition and its first breakthrough came in 1988 when it acquired stake in an oil and gas field in Vietnam.
The next acquisition happened only 2001 when it bought 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1 project in Russia. There was no looking back thereafter. It has so far invested USD 27.23 billion in overseas projects, the highest by any Indian company.
