- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S petroleum ministry has asked the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to consider selling a 60 per cent stake in its two major oil and gas fields to private players to boost output, Reuters cited a government source as saying on Thursday (11).
India, which is the world’s third largest oil consumer and importer, wants to monetise its oil and gas reserves fast and has been asking ONGC to raise production for years now.
The Asian economy’s dependence on foreign oil has gradually grown to over 80 per cent as its local oil and gas output has been stagnating for years amid a growing local refining capacity, the news outlet reported.
ONGC’s Mumbai High and Bassein and Satellite oil and gas fields offshore western India constitute a major portion of its local production.
An informed source told Reuters that the petroleum ministry’s suggestion to ONGC on selling a majority stake to private firms was not a binding order.
India has not been able to draw interest from global oil majors in licensing rounds in more than three decades despite overhauling its exploration policy to include steps such as bringing in state-run companies to allow private firms to raise output and auction off some of their old fields.
In October, India’s oil secretary Tarun Kapoor told Reuters that ExxonMobil, a global oil major, was planning to buy a stake in some of ONGC’s local deep water fields in the country’s eastern coast.
He also said India aims to attract global oil majors to boost its oil and gas production.
