ONGC plans to produce 46 MMT oil/55 BCM gas

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) is planning to produce 46 million metric tonne (MMT) oil equivalent and 55 billion cubic metres of gas within the next 15-25 years.

ONGC, which completed five projects in India's offshore with an investment of over $1 billion in the last five years, is currently in the process of developing 13 projects valued at $3 billion. Of this, 11 projects are scheduled to take-off by April 2008 with a capital expenditure of about $2.5 billion, said R S Sharma, chairman and managing director, ONGC.

D K Pande, director, exploration and production, said ONGC would spend about $5 billion by 2012 to develop fields in the east coast KG basin. ONGC will dilute its equity stake to fund the exploration and production plans, up to a maximum of 40%, so that its partners like Cairn Energy and GAIL would be allowed to pick up stake ranging between 15-30%.