Market improving for disinvestment: ONGC

ONGC said on Thursday market conditions were looking up for its proposed five per cent disinvestment and it was ready for the follow-on public offer (FPO) as and when it came.

“The plan is still on the cards. It is the government’s prerogative to take a decision. On previous occasions, the market was not in good condition and nobody wanted to make short-term gains,” said Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Vasudeva. However, he acknowledged market conditions had begun to “look up” as far as the FPO was concerned.

He said the Securities and Exchange Board of India had come out with two mechanisms for the disinvestment and the department of disinvestment was considering these. The government had not given any final intimation regarding the FPO dates, he said. The government’s holding in ONGC will come down to 69 per cent from 74 per cent after the sale.

He said 2010-11 was a year of achievements for ONGC. The company achieved the highest ever production of 62.5 million tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas from domestic and overseas assets. It also registered the highest ever net profit of Rs 18,924 crore and the highest ever dividend payment of Rs 7,486 crore.

ONGC, he said, was also focusing on opening new growth avenues through exploration of new sources of energy and meaningful integration in the hydrocarbon value chain.

The company has made significant discoveries in the pre-NELP (New Exploraton Licensing Policy) blocks of east coast, like G-1 and GS-15, G-4, GS-29, Vashista and S-1. He said ONGC had taken up 10 major projects for development and one project for additional development of D-1 field with an estimated investment of Rs 24,890 crore.