ONGC’s revenue is expected to be stable in FY24, but its operating profit is seen improving on lower expenses.
Talking to businessline on the sidelines of a media interaction on Monday, Director-Finance Pomita Jaswal said while the company will continue to incur costs on exploration and survey, several other expenses of a one-time nature will not be a feature this year. While she did not specify a figure, she said operating profit would improve from the previous year.
In FY23, the company’s standalone revenue from operations rose 41 per cent y-o-y but at the operating level, EBITDA margins shrank 336 basis points to 45.97 per cent. This was partly due to expenses that rose by a fourth, driven by survey and exploratory well costs.
The company has also committed to investing about ₹1-lakh crore over the next 4-5 years in green energy, while it is aiming for net zero in carbon emissions by 2030. The company is investing in solar project, wind projects, green hydrogen, low carbon and green ammonia plant opportunities. Specifically, the company is aiming at 10 GW of power generation through renewable energy sources by 2030 from about 190 MW now.
It has signed an MoU for a 5 GW green energy project in Rajasthan, another 5 GW of opportunity is being explored while on the anvil is a 1 million tonne per annum green ammonia plant. The company is depending a lot on the open acreage licensing policy to take it to the next level of growth. “From 2026 onwards, we are hopeful that OALP will come to our rescue,” Chairman and Managing Director Arun Kumar Singh said.
With the government releasing about 10 lakh square km of no-go areas for exploration, the company is expecting to get a lion’s share of the blocks for exploration. The company is already in talks with various global major for tie-ups in this regard. By FY26, the company has targeted its exploration to cover 5 lakh square km from its current 1.6 lakh square km acreage. For the current year, its planned capex is ₹30,125 crore, almost the same as last year.