Petroleum major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), which recently handed over some of its onshore oil fields to private companies, has now put 19 offshore fields up for sale. The company had recently sold six onshore oil fields to two companies. Three oil fields in Assam were sold to Assam Company Ltd and three others in Gujarat to Price Petroleum.
Subir Raha, chairman of ONGC, who was in Ahmedabad recently, said, "There are some marginal oil fields across the country, mainly in the northeastern and western parts of the country, which are too small for us to invest in exploration. So we have decided to sell those wells to other companies."
Raha added, "Both domestic and international companies are showing interest for taking control of such marginal oil fields. We are carrying out a survey for identifying more such oil fields which would be sold to interested parties."
ONGC will be setting up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Mangalore with 10 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) capacity.
Raha said, "The initial investment in the facility will be Rs 2,500 crore. After the completion of this project, we will come up with a downstream project there. At present, we are looking for supply tie-ups and talks are on with various LNG suppliers across the globe but nothing has been concrete so far."
On whether the company was talking to The Royal Dutch/Shell, which is also coming up with an LNG terminal at Hazira in Gujarat, Raha said, "We are talking to big suppliers who can meet our substantial demand with a consistent supply."
Raha said the company was interested in setting up an LNG terminal in eastern India also. "If we get suppliers ready to reach LNG to the ports, we will be interested in setting up an LNG facility there too. We are serious about the LNG business with the increasing demand for gas irrespective of the fact that prices globally have been on the rise."
On whether the company would be interested in giving a stake in the Mangalore LNG project to Petronet LNG, in which ONGC is a stakeholder, Raha said, "ONGC will setup the Mangalore terminal alone and any tie-up with Petronet has not been decided yet."
