OIL to fund India’s hydrocarbon hunt; promises to reimburse losses

Exclusive: Finance Ministry asks ONGC, OIL to fund India’s hydrocarbon hunt; promises to reimburse losses Bereft of funds, the Finance Ministry wants Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to initially spend the Rs 3,200 crore required for drilling wells to find oil and natural gas in the high seas.“ONGC and OIL will take up this work on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and the cost for drilling of these wells would be initially borne by ONGC and OIL,” says the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) order.The Petroleum Ministry had sought budgetary support to drill four stratigraphic wells in Category II and Category III basins in India’s offshore region to obtain critical data for a robust modelling of petroleum reserves. Usually, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons conducts such searches through budgetary support.Though the Expenditure Department had approved the ministry’s hydrocarbon hunt, the EFC -- headed by Finance Secretary -- decided that ONGC and OIL bear the expedition cost and their losses, if any, in this venture be reimbursed through gross budgetary support. [Read more](/dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29t/aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cuemVlYml6LmNvbSUyRmVjb25vbXktaW5mcmElMkZuZXdzLWV4Y2x1c2l2ZS1maW5hbmNlLW1pbmlzdHJ5LWFza3Mtb25nYy1vaWwtdG8tZnVuZC1pbmRpYS1oeWRyb2NhcmJvbi1odW50LXByb21pc2VzLXRvLXJlaW1idXJzZS1sb3NzZXMtMjc3ODM5)  If you do not wish to receive such emails go [here](/dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29t)