ONGC plans to drill six wells in the next three years -- two under ONGC committed work programme and four through government funding. Reputed "global companies or consultants are being invited for the assessment of the basin for future exploration and exploitation plan," says the company.

It says the internal programme has three components -- re-exploration of mature basins, consolidation of emerging basins and probing of emerging and new basins. Under this plan, ONGC will probe around 1,700 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas of yet-to-find (YTF) reserves during FY 2022-25. The activities include a state-of-the-art 2D and 3D seismic surveys, followed by drilling of around 115-120 wells with an estimated outlay of Rs 10,000 crore every year for the next three years.

The Centre's facilitation has resulted in the release of 96,000 sq. km area so far, earlier demarcated as ‘No Go’ zone, says the company, adding that this will help it achieve its acreage acquisition programme to bring 5 lakh sq. km under active exploration by 2025.

As part of its international collaboration, ONGC on April 26 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy major Equinor ASA. The MoU, valid for the next two years, will allow partnership in areas of upstream exploration and production, midstream, downstream and clean energy options, including carbon capture utilisation and sequestration. Equinor is the leading operator on the Norwegian continental shelf, and is present in 30 countries worldwide.

The company board will also meet on May 28 to consider and approve the standalone and consolidated financial results for the Jan-March quarter and the year ended on March 31, 2022. During the meeting, the company will also consider the final dividend, if any, for the financial year 2021-22.

During the previous quarter of 2021-22, ONGC had posted a net profit of ₹8,764 crore, up 596.7% from Q3 FY’21. The company's gross revenue was ₹28,474 crore in Q3 FY22, up by 67.3% YoY. On a consolidated basis, the profit rose 220% to ₹11,637 crore, while its revenue grew 45.3% YoY to ₹1.45 lakh crore.

The ONGC stock is trading 4.08% or 6.2 points down at ₹145.70 on the NSE today. The stock has risen 1.64% in the year-to-date period, and 0.90% in the six-month period.

ongc exploration plans

ONGC to invest ₹31,000 cr to intensify exploration in next 3 yrs