ONGC, in alignment with the Government of India’s energy vision, is committed to fast-track efforts to meet the growing energy demand within the country, asserted CMD ONGC Rajesh Kumar Srivastava. He said this while participating in a strategy session on “Upstream challenges and opportunities in a future of growing demand and lower carbon” held on the second day of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2022 in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

CMD ONGC RK Srivastava responding to a query on ONGC’s E&P policy

Daniel Yergin, a renowned energy expert and Vice Chairman of S&P Global, moderated the strategy session with the theme: ‘Upstream challenges and opportunities in a future of growing demand and lower carbon’. During the session, he asked, “Taking about the investments in upstream for ensuring a sustainable future, how is India's national oil company ONGC expanding its E&P business?”

Responding to Mr Yergin’s query, CMD ONGC Mr Srivastava said that focusing on the increasing energy requirements, the company is eyeing more discoveries in the future. “We are aware of the demand growth in this part of the world. ONGC and the Government of India are trying to fast-track the exploration to meet the growing energy demand within the country. Tremendous efforts to improve efficiencies in the E&P processes are now delivering results. We have made a couple of new Basin discoveries as well. We are on the verge of consolidating the size and materiality.”

Discussion on ‘Upstream challenges and opportunities in a future of growing demand and lower carbon’ in progress

Mr Srivastava shared to the global audience that ONGC has invested billions of dollars  in improving the E&P processes in the last five years. “More exploration is also in pipeline with  further investments.”

“Certain gas projects are also being expanded as gas is bound to become more important in the future. Some 20 projects listed for monetization are put on fast track; investments have been committed for those 20 projects to enhance production.”

Further, addressing the moderator’s query on decarbonization in upstream, CMD Mr Srivastava said, “In the Indian context, the strategies are aligned with the government’s green mandate. We have reduced the gas  flaring to the level that is technically warranted. Carbon capture storage (CCUS) of around 1.5 tons has also been committed.”

CMD ONGC responding to a query on decarbonization upstream

“We are discussing several issues related to the financing of Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). CCUS costs are low in India and we are eyeing a cost of around $25 per barrel.”

Talking of ONGC’s expanding renewables vertical, CMD said, “We are also looking at harnessing solar power in a big way. We have also carried out technical analysis for Offshore wind and it is quite  feasible.”

He added that ONGC has designed 1500 tons/day CO2-based Enhanced Oil Recovery and ONGC is upscaling it further.

While discussing about the responsibility of a national oil company, Mr Srivastava shared that in the interest of national energy security, NOC ONGC hired drilling rigs worth millions of dollars even when the average global CAPEX was down.

“For energy security, when oil prices were high a few years earlier, ONGC was hiring rigs worth millions of dollars,” Mr Srivastava highlighted further.

Other global Who’s Who participated in the panel discussion. They included CEO Ecopetrol Felipe Bayon, CEO Energean Mathios Rigas, Upstream Executive Director ADNOC Yaser Saeed Almazrouei, Upstream Director – Executive Committee Shell Zoe Yujnovich, and Senior Vice President Middle East & North Africa of TotalEnergies Laurent Vivier.

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