Drop retail plan, focus on exploration, ONGC told

The government has asked Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to drop its plans to sell petrol and diesel and focus on finding more oil and gas. However, the company has been permitted to complete already approved refinery projects.

The petroleum ministry and the new management of the state-owned exploration and production giant reviewed its business initiatives, especially non-core ones at a day-long Business Plan Review meet in Gurgaon on the outskirts of the Capital on Saturday.

"The message was very clear "" ONGC should no more set up petrol pumps," a company official said.

ONGC currently has one petrol pump at Mangalore and had identified 45 locations from Dehradun to Ahmedabad for opening shop this year.

ONGC and its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) planned to raise the number of outlets to 1,100 by 2008 as part of its plans to diversify into downstream and liquefied natural gas imports to become an integrated oil and gas company with a turnover of $50 billion within the next few years.

"We were told that since fuel retailing is a loss-making proposition (government has not allowed fuel retailers to raise petrol and diesel prices in line with the rise in cost of production), ONGC should focus more on its core competence," he said.