ONGC is India's leading oil & gas exploration
company. Here is a brief profile and history of Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation Limited Profile.
ONGC India
ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited) is India's leading oil &
gas exploration company. ONGC has produced more than 600 million metric
tonnes of crude oil and supplied more than 200 billion cubic metres of
gas since its inception. Today, ONGC is India's highest profit making
corporate. It has a share of 77 percent in India's crude oil production
and 81 per cent in India's natural gas production.
The origins of ONGC can be traced to the Industrial Policy Statement of
1948, which called for the development of petroleum industry in India.
Until 1955, private oil companies such as Assam Oil Company at Digboi,
Oil India Ltd (a 50% joint venture between Government of India and
Burmah Oil Company) at Naharkatiya and Moran in Assam, and Indo-Stanvac
Petroleum project (a joint venture between Government of India and
Standard Vacuum Oil Company of USA) at West Bengal, were engaged in
exploration work. The vast sedimentary tract in other parts of India and
adjoining offshore were largely unexplored. In 1955, Government of India
decided to develop the oil and natural gas resources in the various
regions of the country as part of the Public Sector development. To
achieve this objective an Oil and Natural Gas Directorate was set up
in1955, as a subordinate office under the then Ministry of Natural
Resources and Scientific Research.
The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 placed mineral oil industry
among the schedule 'A' industries. In August 1956, to ensure efficient
functioning of the Oil and Natural Gas Directorate, the Directorate was
raised to the status of a commission with enhanced powers. In October
1959, the Commission was converted into a statutory body by an act of
the Indian Parliament, which enhanced powers of the commission further.
In 1960s, ONGC found new resources in Assam and established new oil
province in Cambay basin (Gujarat). In early 1970s went offshore and
discovered a giant oil field in the form of Bombay High. After
liberalization in 1991, ONGC was re-organized as a limited Company under
the Company's Act, 1956 in February 1994. Today, ONGC has grown into a
full-fledged horizontally integrated petroleum company. Recently, ONGC
has made six new discoveries, at Vasai West (oil and gas) in Western
Offshore, GS-49 (gas) and GS-KW (oil and gas) in Krishna-Godavari
Offshore, Chinnewala Tibba (gas) in Rajasthan, and Laipling-gaon (oil
and gas) and Banamali (oil), both in Assam.
ONGC has a fully owned subsidiary, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) that looks for
exploration opportunities in other parts of the world. OVL is pursuing
exploration of oil and gas in Russia, Iran, Iraq, Libya Myanmar and
other countries. ONGC has also acquired 72% stake in MRPL with full
management control of the 9.69 tonne, state-of-the-art refinery.
Major Achievements of ONGC
- Judged as Asia's best Oil & Gas company, as per a recent
survey conducted by US-based magazine 'Global Finance'
- Ranked as the 2nd biggest E&P company (and 1st in terms of
profits), as per the Platts Energy Business Technology (EBT) Survey
2004.
- Leads the list of Indian companies listed in Forbes 400 Global
Corporates and Financial Times Global 500 by Market Capitalization.
- Only fully-integrated petroleum company in India, operating along
the entire hydrocarbon value chain.
- Holds largest share of hydrocarbon acreages in India.
Note: The above information was last updated on 21-07-2007
