ONGC OVL posts 22 per cent profits

New Delhi, Apr 16: The overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Limited, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), has posted a 22 per cent increase in its net provisional profit at Rs 930 crores up from Rs 761 crores in the last fiscal.

Giving out the provisonal figures, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha today said the gross revenue of OVL increased to Rs 7,600 crores from the previous year's Rs 6,026 crores, up by 26 per cent.

OVL recorded an increase of 30.5 per cent in the production of oil and gas during the year 2005-06. A total of 6.62 MMT of oil and gas was produced in 2005-06, including 0.993 MMT in respect of AL Furat project in Syria for the period starting July 1, 2005 to January 31, 2006, compared to 5.06 MMT in the previous year.

Oil and gas production in Sakhalin-1 began in a limited scale in October 2005. Full capacity production, Mr Raha said, is likely to be reached by early 2007.

Participation in Sakhalin-1 in Russia at a cost of 2.71 billion dollars is the country's single-largest investment abroad. OVL has 20 per cent stake in the project and its share in oil production alone is likely to be 50,000 Barells of Oil Per Day (BOPD) at peak production.

Mr Raha said OVL, in the first one-to one joint venture with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), acquired PetroCanada's share in 36 producing fields in Syria.

OVL now has four overseas producing assets with oil and gas production at Vietnam, Sudan, Sakhalin-1 and Syria.

ONGC and CNPC acquired PetroCanada's interests in four Production-Sharing-Contracts (PSCs) covering 36 fields (producing for the last 15 years) in Syria. Shell and Syrian Petroleum Company are the other partners.

OVL, today, is the sole operator and 100 per cent partner in Block 8 in Iraq, Block 34 and 35 in Cuba, Block 127 and 128 in Vietnam, Block 81-1 in Libya, Najwet Najim in Qatar and 40 per cent partner and operator in Farsi offshore block in Iran.

UNI