(ET)
India’s top explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp is unlikely to buy overseas oil and gas assets at current prices of about $45 a barrel, its finance chief said on Wednesday. Its overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh (OVL) has already seen a decline in profit, as some of its acquisitions, such as Imperial Energy in Russia, were made when global oil prices were above $100 a barrel. “…prices are stuck at $45 ( per barrel) so any acquisition should be made at significantly lower prices only,” Subhash Kumar told an analyst conference.
He said OVL is comfortable with oil prices remaining above $45 a barrel, as $40 a barrel is the lowest price at which the company can make a profit. OVL has a debt of 420 billion Indian rupees ($5.74 billion), with its long term borrowings backed by ONGC. Its profit in the last fiscal year to March 31 declined by about 73% to 4.54 billion Indian rupees ($62 million).
