ONGC to spend Rs 26,000-cr on capex in next fiscal

HYDERABAD: The Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) Limited will spend Rs 26,000-crore on capital expenditure in the next financial year, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma said here on Monday.

The capital expenditure in this financial year is Rs 24,000-crore, he added.

Most of the budget will be spent on Exploration and Modernization plans, Sharma told mediapersons on the sidelines of the Eighth Biennial International Conference & Exposition on Petroleum Geophysics, a three-day event began today at Hyderabad International Convention Centre ( HICC).

Sharma said the modernisation works at Bombay are underway and it is a continuous process. According to him, presently third phase of the modernisation works are going on in which old pipes and structures will be replaced.

Replying to a question on the upcoming Union budget proposals on oil and gas exploration activities, he said the cost of exploration has been going high no major investments are coming up.

There is a need to incentivise the exploration activity as the budgets on exploration is going up, Sharma said.

Earlier speaking at a press meet Sharma said the ONGC is set to invest Rs 25,000-crore in Krishna-Godavari basin in the next five years. Gas production from GS-1 and GS-15 deep water fields will start from next year.