ONGC to pump another 5 lakh tonnes crude

ONGC to pump another 5 lakh tonnes crude

NEW DELHI, SEPT 25: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said today it will pump out around five lakh tonnes of additional crude during the remaining period of the current fiscal that will save the country around Rs 550 crore of foreign exchange on importing crude oil.

"The government has asked domestic oil producing companies, including ONGC, to pump out additional crude to tide over the difficult situation arising out of the surge in international crude oil prices," Petroleum Minister Ram Naik told PTI here.

India's oil import bill, which meets around 70 per cent of the domestic demand of 110 million tonnes, is likely to touch Rs 84,000 crore during the current fiscal in view of the high global oil prices which have crossed $36 a barrel.

ONGC has embarked on fast track implementation of a physical programme to enable it to accelerate the annual rate of production for current fiscal by another 0.5 million tonnes, ONGC Director (Exploration) Yogesh B Sinha told PTI.

"We plan to go in for enhanced recovery of crude from all of the 15 blocks, specially Bombay High, Krishna Godaveri and Kavery basins, Assam, Mehsana, Cambay, and Neelam oil fields, to pump out an additional five lakh tonnes of crude over the current year target of 24.65 million tonnes," he said.

Around 3.5 lakh tonnes of additional crude oil would be pumped out of oil fields in South and North-Eastern region while the rest would come from the remaining fields which is likely to save the country over $120 milion in foreign exchange, he said.

ONGC has initiated a major oil recovery programme for its major fields, including Mumbai High which holds 80 per cent of the oil in places discovered so far, in a bid to jack up production by 22.7 million metric tonnes in the next 10 years, Sinha said.

The programme to be initiated in phases will include an IOR study for eight fields in the first phase, he said adding action programmes for four fields have already been approved by the Navratana Board of ONGC and are being implemented.

The schemes for the eight fields were expected to yeild an additional 10.3 million metric tonnes of oil over the next five years and 22.7 million metric tonnes of oil in 10 years.

ONGC has extensively studied the feasibility of improved oil recovery programme in Mumbai High and has finalised the plans for Mumbai High North which when implemented was likely to contribute five million metric tonnes of additional oil in five years and over 15 million metric tonnes in 10 years.

Sinha said that the contribution from 15 major fields was not only likely to arrest decline in oil production but show an upward trend. ONGC produced 26.18 million tonnes of crude during 1999-2000 as against 26.68 million tonnes in the previous year.

The company has pegged this year's production at 25.1 million tonnes, including the five lakh additional recovery, he said. The corporation is expected to post a net profit of about Rs 3,800 crore on a turnover of 22,000 crore during the current fiscal as against Rs 3,629 crore and Rs 20,093 crore respectively in 1999-2000.