The Hindu Business Line : ONGC may get nod to auction off marginal fields

NEW DELHI: The Government may allow state-run ONGC to auction small and marginal fields that it has found not economical to develop, so that the discoveries in the fields could be brought into production.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has a total of 165 marginal fields, out of which 144 fields have either been put on production or are in the process of monetisation. The remaining 21 fields may be auctioned for development through an international compet itive bidding route, company sources said.

These 21 fields comprise five oilfields (four onland and one offshore), 14 gas fields (nine onland and five offshore) and two offshore oil and gas fields, which have been estimated to cumulatively hold crude reserves of 0.4969 million tonnes and gas rese rves of 1.519 billion cubic meters.

Marginal fields are the oil and gas discoveries made by national oil companies in blocks awarded to them on nomination basis, but have not been exploited on the ground of commercial viability due to technologial constraints.

The sources said the Petroleum Ministry is likely to approach the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs soon for approval of the new Marginal Field Policy under which ONGC and Oil India Ltd can auction off a large number of marginal fields, where discove ries have been made but not monetised, for development. — PTI

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