'ONGC not worried about subsidy burden'

Q&A

What is your view on oil prices?

Best of predictions have failed. I don't want to do those predictions. But these prices are going to be up and up. They are not going to come down. There are supply concerns; demand continues to rise and continues to remain insensitive to price. There is also so much of volatility in prices. In the last quarter (ending March), our gross billing was over $100 per barrel. In April-May, the billing would be higher by about $10 per barrel.

 

What is the subsidy burden ONGC will be sharing?

The numbers should crystallise soon. We have already had discussions and the ministry is working out the numbers. One-third of the total under-recovery of Rs 77,000 crore will fall on the upstream companies. For ONGC, it is likely to be over Rs 20,000 crore against Rs 17,000 crore last year.

You are probably among the few upstream companies in the world facing this kind of financial pressure. Have you proposed any change?

Global companies have to do production sharing. For our nominated fields, we do not do anything such. Also, the cess that we pay is not ad-valorem. This is an absolute amount