How ONGC’s Overseas Projects Help India Secure Oil and Gas Supplies
ONGC is executing several oil and gasexploration projects overseas through its fully-owned subsidiary, ONGC Videshwhich produced 9.76 million metric tons (MMT) of crude oil and 5.23 MMT ofnatural gas in 2020. The company has procured participating interest in 35 oiland gas assets located in 15 countries spread across all the continents barringAustralia. ONGC Videsh contributed around 30.3% of crude oil and 23.7% ofnatural gas to India's domestic production in 2019-20. The company isconstantly looking for viable deposits of oil and gas in different parts of theworld and its personnel are braving different kinds of hazards to prospect foroil and gas in order to secure India's supply.
The overseas oil andgas assets of ONGC
ONGC Videsh has acquired substantialstakes in oil and gas fields where it is carrying out exploration work. Alsotermed as 'assets' in oil and gas industry jargon, these fields are located incountries as distant as the Russian Far East and the Atlantic coast of SouthAmerica. ONGC Videsh partnered with several global stakeholders in exploringthese potentially rich fields for oil and gas. The output from these fields areconsidered India's domestic production because of the strategic equity stakesof ONGC Videsh in these oil and gas fields.
The market for acquiring suchstrategic oil and gas assets is quite competitive with several other globalcorporations especially from major oil consuming countries also trying toacquire stakes to secure their supplies. At the same time, there is the risk ofinvestments not yielding the estimated returns or even half of it. This makesit an extremely challenging goal for ONGC Videsh to save precious foreignexchange by producing sufficient quantities of oil and gas from these distantoverseas fields. Many of these fields are in places that are torn by war whichis even more challenging.
ONGC Videsh has thetechnical expertise
As India’s premier oil and gas producer,ONGC hires the best available talent from the country’s top educationalinstitutions. Over the years, the company has spearheaded the country’s questfor oil and gas both at home and abroad. In this endeavour, the company haspartnered with several leading oil and gas producing corporations and exchangedvital experience and technological capabilities. As a result, ONGC has acquiredthe full range of technical, logistic, managerial and strategic capabilities toexplore oil and gas anywhere in the world.
From acquisition, processing andinterpretation (API) of seismic and non-seismic data to on-land as well asunderwater exploration capabilities, ONGC is today a repository of the best andmost advanced technologies in the oil and gas industry. One very specialcapability that ONGC has developed over the years is in developing a highlyadvanced method of logging, considered to be the "eye" of oil and gasexploration that helps geologists to study the formation and characteristic ofreservoirs. The Committee of ONGC Institutes (COIN) manages 12 globallyrenowned research and technology development institutions that have now becomethe backbone of the country's oil and gas industry.
Fulfilling thecountry's strategic needs
The bulk of oil and gas produced internallyand imported by India, is consumed by the automobile, railways, airways andshipping industries. India’s domestic production is too less to meet evenone-fifth of her requirement and there is an urgent need to raise the volume ofdomestic production. As the country’s flagship E&P company, ONGC along withsubsidiaries like ONGC Videsh is committed to explore for more oil and gas allover the world to reduce India’s import dependency. Such dependency severelylimits the country’s strategic space in international relations.
ONGC Videsh is making all out effortsto reduce India’s traditional dependence on oil and gas from the Gulf countriesin the Middle East by prospecting and exploring for oil in non-traditionalareas. Today, the company is exploring and producing oil from fields spreadacross different continents from South America to eastern Siberia. ONGC aims tomeet50% of the demand for oil and gas in the country with indigenous productionby 2050 and for that it will prospect and explore every corner of the world. ONGCVidesh is trusted by global partners for its expertise and experience builtover decades.
Conclusion
India’s economic growth depends onthe fast and easy movement of goods from one corner of the vast country toanother, which in turn, depends on efficient transportation. The entiretransportation system across land, water and air also known as multi-modal modeof transport, runs on petroleum products like petrol, diesel and jet fuel. Fora country of India’s size, which is the world’s 5th largest economyas per exchange rate mechanism and 3rd largest as per purchasingpower parity (PPP) mode of calculation, double digit growth is critical.Securing the country’s supply of oil is a challenge that primarily rests on theshoulders of ONGC and its subsidiaries like ONGC Videsh, which owns oil and gasfields in different parts of the world. This is done to increase India’s indigenousproduction of oil and gas and reduce her dependence on imports.
