Ministry advises ONGC against Mangalore units

The ministry of petroleum and natural gas in a letter to A Srinivas Rao, president, Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has pointed out that the ministry was not keen on ONGC ignoring exploration and production at the cost of other projects.

They can very well be taken up by other entities, so that oil security of the country is not endangered.

"ONGC being the flagship exploration and production company of India, needs to put in far greater efforts into exploration of oil and gas in the frontier basins of India which till today remained unexplored or inadequately explored. As such, ONGC will be required to make substantial investments in the sector on a priority basis so that the country can reduce its burgeoning deficit of domestic oil and gas in the coming years."

ONGC has, hence, been advised to commit itself to huge financial investments in downstream sectors like LNG terminals, gas pipelines, petrochemicals, power plants among other things.

It may be recalled that the ONGC signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government and KCCI to be a facilitator for the special economic zone in Mangalore. It plans to set up a power plant in Mangalore.

The ministry further said that ONGC should limit its role to that of a facilitator and co-ordinator for Petronet LNG Limited, GAIL (India) Ltd, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and PSUs concerned to take up projects of LNG, gas pipeline and petrochemicals.

As regards power projects, the policy allows for central, state and private sector utilities to use their expertise to set up power plants.