ONGC eyes 17 per cent jump in crude output

New Delhi: State-owned ONGC has projected 17 per cent rise in its crude oil production and 66 per cent in natural gas by March 2022 as it looks to boost domestic output to help achieve the government target of 10 per cent reduction in import of these items.

The nation's biggest oil and gas producer has prepared 'Roadmap' for Import Reduction, two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a target for reducing oil import dependence by 10 per cent, from 77 per cent in 2013-14.

ONGC sees crude oil output rising from 22.6 million tonne in 2017-18 to 26.42 million tonne in 2021-22. Gas output is projected to rise from 25.011 billion cubic meters in 2017-18 to 41.536 bcm in 2021-22.

"ONGC management is keen to ensure that the Prime Minister's vision of 10 per cent import reduction is met," the company has said in the document that estimates oil and gas supplies from all past discoveries, ongoing development as well as potential projects slated for development. As on October 1, 2016, ONGC had 577 hydrocarbon discoveries.

Most of them were either in production or action had been initiated to monetise them. Output from the currently producing fields is projected to fall from 18.5 million tonne in current fiscal which began this month to 12.66 million tons in 2021-22.

About 5.3 million tonne is expected from fields where investment approval has already been given and another 8.45 million tonne from the fields that are under conceptualisation or investment approval is under process.

For natural gas, the output is projected to drop from 19.73 bcm from current fields to 11.9 bcn in 2021-22. The situation is rescued by fields that are under development or conceptualisation that will give 29.65 bcm in 2021-22.