Oil & Natural Gas : ONGC Videsh Declares H1 FY’18 Financial Results

Financial results of ONGC Videsh Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of ONGC, for the half year ended September 30, 2017 were considered and approved by the Board in its meeting held on November 13, 2017. The performance highlights are as under:

Consolidated Crude Oil and Oil Equivalent Gas production during H1FY'18 was higher by 28.14% at 7.013 MMTOE mainly due to acquisition of additional 11% stake in Vankorneft project in Russia in October 2016.

The Company recorded its standalone profit of ₹ 134 crore during H1 FY'18 as against profit of ₹ 491 crore during H1 FY'17 mainly due to forex movements and provisioning against exploratory carry finance. Further, the consolidated profit of the Company during H1 FY'18 was ₹280 crore as against profit of ₹ 243 crore during H1 FY'17, an increase of 15.23%.

A. New Acquisitions and Alliances

• On October 3, 2017, ONGC Videsh Vankorneft Pte Ltd (OVVL), wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of ONGC Videsh Limited, completed the acquisition of 30% Participating Interest in Namibia Petroleum Exploration License 0037 for Blocks 2112A, 2012B and 2113B and related agreements (License), Offshore Namibia from Tullow Namibia Limited (Tullow), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc. Tullow with remaining 35% Participating interest shall continue to remain the operator of the License. Pancontinental Namibia (Pty) Limited with 30% Participating interest and Paragon Oil and Gas (Pty) Limited with 5% Participating interest are other partners in the License.
• On September 28, 2017, Authorised State Body (ASB) of Russia has approved the extension of Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for Sakhalin-1 project for 30 years from December 3, 2021 to December 3, 2051.
• Consortium partners of the giant ACG Fields in Azerbaijan have entered into an agreement with Azerbaijan Government and State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) for extension of duration of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater portion of Gunashli (ACG) oil fields until December 31, 2049.

B. Financing

• OVVL had raised finances by way of bridge loan to acquire 11% shares in JSC Vankorneft in October 2016. The bridge loan has been successfully replaced by OVVL in April 2017 with USD 500 million and JPY 38 billion syndicated term loan facilities at competitive prices from reputed international banks.

C. Operations

• Sakhalin-1
  Completed World's Longest Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) well #O5RD with measured depth of 15,000 m on June 30, 2017 with average 3 months Production rate ~13,000 BOPD (as on October 1, 2017).

D.Awards

• ONGC Videsh was conferred with the prestigious SCOPE award for Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to the Public Sector Management - Institutional Category II (Miniratna-I & II PSEs) for 2014-15 on April 11, 2017.

E. About ONGC Videsh

• ONGC Videsh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the National Oil Company of India, and is India's largest international oil and gas Company. ONGC Videsh has participation in 39 projects in 18 countries namely Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Iran, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam and New Zealand. ONGC Videsh maintains a balance portfolio of 14 producing, 4 discovered/under development, 17 exploratory and remaining 4 are pipeline projects. The Company currently operates/ jointly operates 20 projects. ONGC Videsh had total oil and gas reserves (2P) of about 704 MMTOE as on April 1, 2017. For more information visit: www.ongcvidesh.com

F. About ONGC

• ONGC's market capitalization as on November 13, 2017 was ₹ 2.36 trillion (US$ 36.3 billion). During the financial year ended March 31, 2017, ONGC Group had produced 61.60 MMTOE of oil and oil equivalent gas (approx. 1.26 MMboe per day); the Consolidated Gross Turnover was ₹ 1,421 billion (US$ 21 billion) during FY'17 and total consolidated oil and gas reserves were 1,818 MMTOE as on March 31, 2017. For more information visit: www.ongcindia.com