(The Hindu)
After looking to sell oilfields of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has sought a whitepaper on status and future strategy for the state-owned firm’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd, sources with knowledge of the development said. The government had on previous occasions looked at hiving off the highly successful OVL from its parent and monetising it by listing the firm on domestic or international bourses.
Sources said at the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the oil and gas sector on October 12, the Oil Ministry was asked to prepare an in-house white paper on OVL looking into various issues, including reasons for its establishment, cost incurred and returns till date. Also, the whitepaper was to look at future strategy of OVL so as to maximise returns and issues related to equity oil (the proportion of production that a concession owner has the legal right to retain). OVL, which is 100 per cent owned by ONGC, has so far invested ₹1.5 lakh crore ($28.36 billion) in 41 projects across 20 countries. It has under its portfolio reserves of 711 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent natural gas.
