The slide in crude oil prices might push back development of the 98/2 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin, the most ambitious programme of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), by at least two quarters.

ONGC was planning to start gas production here from April 2018. Oil production is slated to begin after that.

A deal to allow ONGC Videsh Limited to pick up 15% stake in Russia's second biggest oil field of Vankorneft and three other major pacts between Indian and Russian companies in the oil and gas sector have been struck during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here which is expected to boost bilateral trade significantly.

India has been pressing for access to its companies in Russia's lucrative hydrocarbons sector and the pacts finalised are likely to facilitate their significant presence in oil and gas exploration in the Eurasian country.

In a move to attain energy security, Indian energy firms ONGC and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) are eyeing more projects in Colombia.

Currently, Mansarovar Energy Colombia, a joint venture formed by ONGC and Chinese oil firm Sinopec, is engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in Colombia.

Mumbai: For the first time since crude oil prices began to fall in July 2014, the Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) is facing the prospects of suffering losses.

With crude oil prices hovering below the $40 per barrel mark, it has come close to India’s biggest oil explorer’s average cost of production, implying that any further decline will push most of ONGC’s fields into operational losses.

Crude futures fell in Asian trading on Friday as fresh signs of inventory building and the Federal Reserves rate hike this week kept prices under pressure amid a global glut of oil that shows no sign of abating.

U.S. crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 18 cents at $34.77 a barrel by 0104 GMT. The contract fell 1.6 percent to $34.95 a barrel on Thursday.

The government has set up a judicial commission headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Ajit Prakash Shah to look into the findings of the international consultant DeGolyer & MacNaughton in the gas dispute between Reliance Industries (RIL) and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

The consultant had said 11 billion cubic meter (bcm) of gas may have flown from ONGC’s Godavari PML and KG-D5 blocks to RIL’s KG-D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra coast.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pulled up state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for poor planning in hiring and use of drilling rigs, which resulted in a loss of Rs 7,995 crore.

The CAG said the firm lacked uniformity in preparation of annual rig requirement plan (RRP), delayed rig acquisitions and hiring, was inconsistent in deployment and had an inefficient repair and refurbishment policy.

Shares of oil exploration and production companies such as Oil India, Cairn India and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have slipped more than 3% on the BSE after crude oil tumbled to its lowest level in nearly seven years.

Oil India has dipped 4% to Rs 371, Cairn India is down 3.5% at Rs 131, while ONGC has declined 3% at Rs 217 on the BSE. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.46% or 117 points at 25,412 at 11:50 AM.

The board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), led by its vocal independent directors and government nominee, had forced the firm’s management to take legal recourse that has now led to a damning finding that Rs 11,000 crore worth of its natural gas had flowed to neighbouring block of Reliance Industries (RIL).

It all started in July 2013 when a review of the firm’s eastern offshore oil and gas campaign by the just-appointed director (exploration), Narendra Kumar Verma, led to suspicion that ONGC’s Krishna Godavari basin block KG-DWN-98/2 and Godavari-PML are connected with adjoining KG-D6 block of RIL.

There is a shadow on future production from the five discoveries of the government-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, after gas reportedly flowed from two of its blocks to the adjacent Reliance Industries units off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

Dallas-based DeGoyler and MacNaughton (D&M), in a report submitted to the government on Tuesday, has put a question mark on the future production from the five ONGC discoveries. It has established continuity of the reservoir in three blocks of Reliance Industries and ONGC.

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