With Sakhalin-I back in steam, ONGC Videsh expects 10-15 % production rise

By Special Correspondent: ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, expects to cross 12 million metric tonne mark in production of oil and oil equivalent gas during the current financial year against the production of 10.17 MMtoe in the year ended March 31, 2023. The increase in production is expected because of the normalization of output in the Russia’s Sakhalin-I project in which OVL has a 20 per cent stake.
According to a senior official, the company is very much optimistic about the production rise during the current financial year in spite of the ongoing geo-political crisis in Russia and Africa.
“ The production in Sakhalin, which had nosedived to close to zero in September 2022 because of the Russia-Ukraine arm conflict and the subsequent change in the project’s ownership, has been restored completely. Currently the output has been within the planned estimates of 2,10,000 barrels per day,” he said.
He has further added that the production from the project would rise to 1.8 to 2 MMtoe during the current financial year against the production of 1.4 MMtoe last year.
Incidentally, OVL had taken the 20 per cent stake in the project in July 2001 along with other oil majors Exxon Neftegas Ltd (ENL) and SODECO, a consortium of Japanese companies with 30 per cent participatory interest.  ENL, which had been the operator, cut the production to entirely by September 2022 which took a massive toll on the OVL’s overall output.

The other major project, ONGC Videsh Vankorneft Pte. Ltd (OVVL), in which OVL has a 26 per cent stake, contributed  3.799 MMtoe to the company’s total production in FY’23. OVL expects a production enhancement of about five per cent in this project during the current financial year. However, the Dividend from the project is still an issue.

The official has further pointed out that OVL has given a major push to expand its portfolio to avoid any sudden risk to production because of geopolitical crises or natural calamities. the company is weighing options to spread its wings in major oil producing countries in Africa beyond Mozambique and Sudan.

A questionnaire about the company’s future plans, however, remained unanswered for several weeks in spite of reminders. To be continued in Next Part