Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)
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OIL AND NATURAL GAS CORPORATION LIMITED
The Oil and Natural Gas Commission was established on 14th August 1956 as a statutory body under Oil and Natural Gas Commission Act for the development of petroleum resources and sale of petroleum products. As per the decision of the Government, Oil and Natural Gas Commission was converted into a Public Limited Company under the Companies Act, 1956 and named as “Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited” from 1st February 1994.
In March 2004, the Government disinvested around 10 per cent of the equity shares of ONGC through a public offer in the domestic capital market at Rs 750 per share. After disinvestment, shareholding of the Government in ONGC came down to around 74.15 per cent. The Authorized and Paid-up Capital of ONGC as on 31st March 2011 is Rs 15000 crore and Rs 4277.74 crore respectively. It has been accorded 'Maharatna Company' status.
Crude oil and natural gas production by ONGC during 2010-11 was 27.28 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) and 25.32 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) respectively.
Gas hydrates in Krishna-Godavari basin, 2015
The Times of India Jan 09 2016
Sanjay Dutta
Flagship explorer ONGC has struck a gas reserve in the form of hydrates otherwise known as `fire ice' off the Andhra coast that could turn out to be four times larger in terms of yield than Reliance Industries Ltd's discovery of 2002, India's biggest so far.
The discovery was made in August last year by the second exploratory expedition under the government's gas hydrate programme in collaboration with scientists from US and Japan, which have separately inked research MoUs with India.
The discovery validates the government's stress on finding alternative sources of energy and efforts to attract investments in the exploration business. It would also be a boost for PM Modi as he moves to promote a gasbased economy in tune with India's commitment to mitigate climate change. Irrespective of the cur rent depressed oil and gas price price scenario, which makes fresh investments unviable, the hydrates discovery would put India back in reckoning in terms of prospectivity . It would also return the spotlight on the eastern offshore, described as `India's gas bowl' and `India's North Sea' after Reliance's gas discovery. The region lost its glory in the aftermath of output falling from Reliance's field.
Sources in the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the oil ministry's technical arm co-ordinating the gas hydrates programme, said the discoveries have been made in Blocks 982, D3, D6 and D9 in the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the Andhra coast.These blocks are 30 Kms south-west of Reliance industries Ltd's natural gas block KG-D6.
Broadly , commercially useful gas hydrates are formed when methane or natural gas get trapped in icicles. These are found at places with extreme cold temperatures such as the Arctic region, Alaska and Siberia; or below seabed under high pressure of water depth.
There are two main technologies being successfully tried to free gas either by depressurising or injecting CO2 which replaces gas in the icicles.
But there's a catch. Or two. Cost of production is a worry , especially in a depressed market. Technology for producing gas from hydrates is still in pilot stage though considerable suc cess in Japan, US and Canada gives hope. Indeed, Japan has declared it would start commercial gas production from its offshore hydrates from 2020 after proving commerciality of the technology by 2018. ONGC intends to benefit from Japan's experience and technology by starting pilot production from its discovery from 2017.
The sources put the initial reserves potential of the hydrates at 134 tcf (trillion cubic feet). Even if ONGC manages to pump out a tenth of the reserves, the discovery could yield nearly 13 tcf of gas against RIL's 9 tcf.
Gas in Reliance’s KG-D6 block
RIL was unduly benefited: Justice Shah panel
The Times of India, Sep 01 2016
Reliance Industries derived “unjust benefit“ as a result of gas flowing into its KG-D6 block from the adjacent field of state-run ONGC in the Krishna-Godavari basin, and is liable to pay compensation to the government, the Justice A P Shah panel has said. The report, submitted to the oil ministry on Wednesday and put up on the ministry website the same evening, held RIL responsible for having “unfairly retained“ the benefit and not disclosing the fact that the underground gas pools in both the blocks were interconnected.
ONGC, which had moved the Delhi HC against RIL on the issue, too came in for sharp criticism, with Justice Shah suggesting a probe into previous management's lethargy in acting on information suggesting interconnected gas pools.
The one-man panel, under the retired Delhi HC chief justice, was appointed to suggest a way forward in the dispute. The panel was tasked to examine US-based consultant DeGolyer & MacNaughton's report validating ONGC's claim of gas from its block migrating to RIL's fields since it went into production in 2009. According to the D&M re port, more than 11billion cubic meters of gas, worth nearly Rs 11,000 crore, flowed from ONGC's area to Reliance's fields till March 2015. The report said the migration of gas after this date has to be ascertained.The Shah panel accepted the US consultant's report in its en tirety, rejecting Reliance's objections over what it called “asymmetry in data“.
“The report has gone into economic and legal implications of the gas migration issue under the ambit of production sharing contract. You must give us an opportunity to go through it. The ministry has 30 days to take appropriate action,“ oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said after going over the report with Justice Shah for nearly an hour. The government's decision to put the report on the website was being seen by many as an indication of its willingness to act on the findings.
RIL and ONGC spokespersons declined to comment, saying they were not privy to the report's content when TOI contacted them before the report was made public. RIL has consistently denied doing any wrong, saying it had drilled wells within its own area and with approvals from authorities.
