| Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on energy security today, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha said the government policy did not permit the company to farm out blocks, which were given to it under nomination. |
| Earlier, addressing the seminar, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said ONGC should look at opening new fields and getting more technology from outside for improving oil and gas production in the country. |
| Aiyar in his address also said companies in India including IndianOil and ONGC Videsh had achieved success in acquiring exploration blocks in Cuba, Libya, Nigeria and other countries in the past few months. ONGC Videsh currently operates in 13 nations including Vietnam, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Australia, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Syria, Qatar and Cuba, the minister added. |
| Replying to queries on the government's plan to hive off its 100 per cent overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh Ltd, Raha said he had no information on the issue. "We are very clear that OVL is our wholly-owned subsidiary created by ONGC 40 years ago," Raha said. |
| "In the last four years, we've been successful in acquiring oil assets abroad and success does not mean we should hive it off," he added. |
| Raha also said strength was created by synergy and not disintegration. He said natural gas output from the Mumbai High field has risen to 10.6 million metric standard cubic metre per day from 10.2 million metric standard cubic metre before the accident at the oil and gas field on July 27. |
| "Pre-accident, our (Mumbai High) gas production was 10.2 million metric standard cubic meters per day. It has now gone up to 10.6 million metric standard cubic meters, since after the accident we had reorganised our sub-sea pipelines to allow us to pump more gas to Uran," Raha said. |
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