ONGC lines up Rs 1Lakh crores investment

New Delhi: India's top oil and gas producer ONGC on Friday unveiled a $15-16 billion (more than Rs 1 lakh crore) investment plan to double output from its domestic and overseas fields and expand its refining capacity three folds alongside diversification into renewables in a new vision document for 2040.

"The new strategy document aims to transforms ONGC in a new 'avatar' in this new energy landscape as a diversified energy company with strong contribution from non-E&P businesses," Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) CMD Shashi Shanker said. In oil sector, E & P stands for exploration and production.

ONGC Energy Strategy 2040 envisions the company as "A diversified energy company with a strong contribution from non-E&P business; 3x revenues and about 5-6x market capitalisation," he said.

The firm produced 24.23 million tonne of crude oil in the 2018-19 fiscal year and 25.81 billion cubic metres of natural gas from its domestic fields.

Another 10.1 million tonne of oil and 4.736 bcm of gas was produced from its overseas assets.

It had a turnover of Rs 1,09,654 crore and a net profit of Rs 26,715 crore in the year ended March 31, 2019. As on August 16, it had a market capitalisation of Rs 1,64,458 crore.

"Our fields are old and ageing, 30-50 years old and have reached plateau. So we are investing in re-development projects to arrest the fall and extend the life," he said.

The company is investing around Rs 86,000 crore in 27 major projects to boost oil and gas production, which has stagnated over the last few years. These projects will yield 76 million tonnes of oil and 121 bcm of gas.

The overall plan, which includes overseas projects, expanding refining capacity and investing in renewables, will entail USD 15-16 billion investment.

"These numbers will change as we progress," ONGC Director (Finance) Subhash Kumar said. Shanker said the 'Energy Strategy 2040' entails ONGC achieving "three times revenue distributed across exploration and production, refining, marketing and other businesses; four times current profit-after-tax (PAT), with 10 per cent contribution from non-oil and gas business; and 5-6 times current market capitalization."

"The strategic roadmap envisions a future-ready organization whose growth is predicated on a few important planks: consolidation of our core upstream business (domestic and international); expansion into value accreting adjacencies in the oil and gas value chain (downstream and petrochemicals) and diversification into renewables (offshore wind) and select new frontier plays through dedicated venture fund," he said.

It targets cumulative upstream output (local and overseas) almost doubling from current levels with 2 per cent and 5 per cent CAGR in domestic and international operations respectively.

With two 35 million tonnes per annum of oil refining capacity vested in its two subsidiaries -- HPCL and MRPL, ONGC is targeting to raise this capacity to around 90-100 million tonnes.

Also, expansion is petrochemicals will be prioritised. Besides, ONGC plans to make investments in renewables energy sources with a target to create 5-10 gigawatts portfolio with a focus on offshore wind power, he said.

ONGC has been under pressure to reverse the falling output from its aging fields, where natural decline has set in. It is investing heavily to arrest the domestic fall while at the same time aggressively look for assets overseas.

"The strategic roadmap also looks to create long-term optionality through investor play (venture fund corpus of about $1 billion) in select frontier themes such as clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI) or reservoir/field services technology," he said.

In upstream oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), priority would be accorded to select difficult plays (high-pressure high temperature, ultra-deepwater) with high-prospectivity and low stretch from current core, development of in-house enhanced oil recovery solutions to maximize legacy production, exploration-focused technology partnerships, dedicated marginal fields unit as well as building decommissioning capabilities.