ONGC plans to double natural gas production from the present 24 BCM (billion cubic meters) to roughly 50 BCM in the next three to four years and the Krishna-Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh plays a crucial role in the endeavour to secure the energy security of the country, according to the Chairman and Managing Director, Shashi Shanker.

He told the media here on Tuesday that a month ago, the Union Minister for Oil and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, had kick-started the offshore project, off Kakinada in East Godavari district.

"Gas production from NELP Block KG-DWN-98/2 in deep waters off Kakinada is expected to commence from 2019 and ONGC would produce 25.87 mt of oil and 45.28 BCM of gas by 2034-35 from the field," he said, adding that Rs 33,000 crore would be spent on developing the offshore fields in the K-G

The Chairman said the acquisition of 51.1 per cent stake in HPCL by ONGC was a very beneficial move, in view of the synergies between the two PSU companies, and "it makes ONGC a truly vertically integrated company. We are also working on the merger of HPCL and MRPL, another ONGC subsidiary, but it may take some time’’.

Shanker also spoke about the projects being taken up by ONGC abroad, in Abu Dhabi and Russia and elsewhere. In response to a question on shale gas, he said preliminary exploratory efforts were being made in Gujarat, but they were still at a very nascent stage. He said ONGC had spent Rs 66 crore in Andhra Pradesh on CSR activities during the last financial year.

Later in the afternoon, the CMD inaugurated the Nagayalanka onshore project taken up in Krishna district along with Cairn Energy India Ltd. Peak oil and gas production from the project is expected to be 2931 BOPD (barrels of oil per day) and 1.5 LCMD (lakh cubic meters of natural gas per day).

D M R Sekhar, Executive Director and asset manager of Rajahmundry, also spoke on the occasion.

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