India’s share from oilfields abroad to touch 13 Mln tonne by ’07

NEW DELHI, Oct 31, 2003 (AsiaPulse) — India’s share from oil fields abroad where it has taken equity stake, will spiral more than three-folds to 13 million tonnes of crude by 2007, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said.

New Delhi has been encouraging state-run oil firms to take stakes in oil fields abroad to cut the country’s import dependence to meet its crude oil requirement. India imports 78 million tonnes of crude annually while its domestic production stagnates at around 32 million tonnes.

Naik said India’s flagship ONGC Videsh Ltd’s investment in an oil field in Sudan is giving the country 3.2 million tonnes of crude annually. This, together with the revenues realised from sale of gas from a Vietnam field where OVL has 45 per cent stake, contributes Rs 100 billion(US$2.2 billion) annually.

OVL, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has taken stake in two more oil blocks in Sudan, which are expected to go on production by 2005-06. Besides, a couple of prospective blocks in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran and Myanmar too are likely to go on production by then.

“Our share from these (fields) will be over 13 million tonnes of crude in 2007,” Naik said.

OVL has also taken 20 per cent interest in gigantic Sakhalin-I oil and gas project in Russia which will go on stream by 2007 end.

At home, ONGC is investing about Rs 110 billion in improving oil and gas recovery from 15 producing fields like Mumbai High. “The actual production gain due to this has been 4.57 million tonnes of oil (valued at Rs 46 billion),” he said.