State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) announced fresh gas discoveries and record annual profit in 2023-24 even as production volumes dipped slightly.
ONGC kicked off the current fiscal year on a positive note with new gas finds — Ranaghat-2 Well, located in the Bengal onland basin.
This Ranaghat well encountered gas and condensate in Mio-Pliocene sands during testing. The discovery opens doors for further exploration in the northeastern NELP block. The Mumbai offshore well also encountered gas during testing.
These discoveries build upon ONGC’s success in 2023-24, where it declared 11 hydrocarbon discoveries — six onland and five offshore — within their operated acreages.
ONGC’s financial performance for FY24 painted a rosy picture with the firm reporting a record net profit of ₹40,526 crore, surpassing the previous year’s ₹40,097 crore.
Despite a slight decline in revenue to ₹1.38 lakh crore compared with ₹1.55 lakh crore in 2022-23, ONGC maintained profitability.
Crude oil production dipped marginally by 0.7 per cent to 18.4 million tonnes (mt), while gas production witnessed a steeper decline of 3.2 per cent to 19.97 billion cubic meters (bcm).
A total dividend of 245 per cent (₹12.25 per share) was declared, amounting to a payout of ₹15,411 crore, the PSU said in a release.
Investment in capital expenditure (capex) increased to ₹37,000 crore in 2023-24 compared with ₹30,208 crore in the previous year.
Coal gas
India has launched a coal gasification scheme with viability gap funding. The ministry of coal has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking participation from public sector undertakings (PSUs), private investors and R&D agencies.
Under the viability gap funding in Category I, ₹4,050 crore will be provided to government PSUs or JV of PSUs.
A total of three projects will be supported by providing a lumpsum financial incentive of ₹1,350 crore or 15 per cent of the capex, whichever is lower, to each selected PSU’s project.
Under Category II, ₹3,850 crore has been provisioned for the private sector as well as PSUs.
The projects will receive lump-sum incentive in two equal instalments of 15 per cent of capex, or ₹1,000 crore, whichever is lower.
