India's Oil and National Gas Corporation reported a decrease in domestic oil and gas production for the fiscal year ending in March 2024. The decline was attributed to slower recoveries from aging fields. However, its overseas arm noted an increase in production due to strong yields from assets located in Sudan, Venezuela, and Colombia.
The flagship explorer stated that its domestic crude production had fallen by 1.6% year on year to 21.14 million metric tons in FY 2023-24, while gas production had decreased by 3.3% year on year to 20.65 billion cubic meters. Despite a record high capital expenditure of about $4.4 billion in FY 2023-24, up from about $3.6 billion in FY 2022-23, ONGC mentioned that domestic output was lower.
ONGC realised a crude price of $75.9 per barrel for 2023-24, down 18.4% year on year, and a natural gas price of $6.6 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), down 10.8% from the previous year.
During January-March, the state-run explorer reported a 2.4% year-on-year increase in crude production to 5.36 million metric tons, while gas output declined by 3% compared to the previous year, totalling 5.1 billion cubic metres.
India's upstream output has seen a compound annual decline of nearly 1.1% over the past 10 years due to a natural drop in production from mature fields, limited monetisation of existing discoveries, and a reduction in new discoveries, as per S&P Global Commodity Insights.
According to Commodity Insights, ONGC's project development pipeline, including the K-G Cluster III and the Daman Upside Development project, could potentially boost overall production in India in the coming decade, despite the challenges faced in its growth path.
India has been intensifying its efforts to ensure energy security amid geopolitical turbulence and the shift towards cleaner fuels globally. However, analysts and trade sources believe that New Delhi faces challenges in increasing domestic output.
In FY 2023-24, ONGC announced 11 discoveries, including six on-land assets and five offshore assets. The company monetized seven discoveries during the same period and registered a reserve replacement ratio of 1.15, marking the 18th consecutive year with a ratio above one.
ONGC drilled 541 wells in FY 2023-24, the highest in the past 34 years, comprising 103 exploratory and 438 development wells.
Regarding overseas operations, ONGC Videsh reported an increase in oil and gas production to 10.52 million metric tons of oil equivalent in FY 2023-24, up from 10.17 million metric tons of oil equivalent in the previous fiscal year.
The company attributed this positive performance to strong contributions from five operated and jointly operated assets, namely MECL and CPO-5 in Colombia, GPOC and SPOC in South Sudan, and San Cristobal in Venezuela, despite facing natural decline, geopolitical tensions, and local issues.
ONGC Videsh has set production targets of 11 million metric tons of oil equivalent for FY 2024-25 and 11.22 million metric tonne of oil equivalent for FY 2025-26, according to a company official.
Despite achieving a turnover of about $1.1 billion in FY 2023-24, down from about $1.4 billion in the previous year, mainly due to non-accounting of revenue from Sakhalin 1, ONGC Videsh experienced a 4% year-on-year decline in crude price realisation.
New Delhi has announced several upstream policy reforms to attract international oil companies, and ONGC is actively seeking international partners with experience in deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations for its challenging fields and acreages in the country.
