Page 19 - Plastics News May 2021

FeAtures

ONGC To Play Larger Role in Country’s Pursuit of Energy Security

Requirement and opportunity for ONGC is to play an even more pronounced role in improving energy secu-
rity of the country

number of press reports pertaining to the purported ONGC, in its efforts to augment production of oil and gas,
A communication from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural is endeavoring to engage all interested players so that the
Gas are noticed that convey an impression that the role concept of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is central theme of our
of ONGC may be significantly affected in the wake of its domestic project execution.
potential restructuring. The fact on the contrary is that On the back of enabling policy facilitation by the Govt.,
the Govt. has been continuously encouraging ONGC to ONGC has rolled out its separate Gas vertical, which will
play a much larger role in the context of India’s oil and increase its activities in gas sector leveraging on its strong
gas sector.
domestic and international presence. It is also taking steps
ONGC Board approved Energy Strategy 2040 in April 2019 to augment its renewables portfolio.
that outlines strategic growth initiatives across the energy ONGC is also looking into strategic relationships and close
value-chain. Besides, there have been regular interactions alliances with key international players through ONGC
of ONGC with various stakeholders including the Ministry Videsh. Intention is to invite foreign participations to
of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), in order to further explore Category-II and Category-III basins which match
augment the role of ONGC in domestic upstream sector. size and scale of expectations and portfolio of these large
The expectation and the strategy for ONGC is to act as players.
the fulcrum around which an ecosystem for thriving oil
and gas industry in the country can be created consistent In fact during the ongoing discussions there has been an
with expectations for meeting Prime Minister’s vision to opportunity for ONGC to raise issues which are critical for
reduce import dependence. ONGC to achieve the objectives of delivering value to all
stakeholders. Despite uneconomical gas prices, ONGC has
been aggressively pursuing its deepwater projects in East
Coast and couple of shallow water projects in West Coast.
ONGC has also a plan of acquiring much larger acreage
through OALP. There are certain issues around structure
where decisive steps can be evaluated only once the
industry is completely under GST regime.
So, it can be stated that the ongoing discussions are
neither new nor intended to limit role or growth of ONGC.
Requirement and opportunity for ONGC is to play an even
more pronounced role in improving energy security of the
country. ONGC feels confident and comfortable that the
ongoing discussions within ONGC and with its stakeholders
will help delivering greater value to all stakeholders, and
In this context, ONGC has continuously been reviewing make ONGC a much stronger commercial organization, at
its engagements to move up higher in value chain to par with the best in the world.
concentrate on areas where the expected risk-reward Gas hydrate
payoff offers better business opportunities for growth.
Over the years ONGC benefitted from participation of Gas hydrate is a solid, ice-like form of water, which
other players and opportunity specific alliances which contains gas molecules in its molecular cavities. Large
have helped ONGC enhance value for itself, besides quantities of gas hydrates exist in the world. Scientists
releasing ONGC resources to pursue more promising in the hydrocarbon field consider this form as the future
opportunities with perceived better risk return tradeoff. source of natural gas. However, the catch is, no country

19 May 2021 Plastics News