ONGC soars as its arm signs agreement for ACG Field in Azerbaijan

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is currently trading at Rs. 292.60, up by 6.30 points or 2.20% from its previous closing of Rs. 286.30 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 289.90 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 292.80 and Rs. 287.55 respectively. So far 337765 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 344.60 on 01-Aug-2024 and a 52 week low of Rs. 179.80 on 26-Oct-2023.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 298.25 and Rs. 282.60 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 366023.22 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 58.89%, while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 37.62% and 3.50% respectively.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) wholly owned subsidiary -- ONGC Videsh (OVL) together with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan (SOCAR), bp, MOL, INPEX, Equinor, ExxonMobil, TPAO, and ITOCHU, have signed an addendum to the existing Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) Field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

The addendum amends the ACG PSA enabling the parties to progress the exploration, appraisal, development and production from the Non-Associated Natural Gas (NAG) reservoirs of the ACG field and is effective till the end of the existing ACG PSA in 2049.

The NAG resources of ACG are believed to be significant, with up to 4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in place. The new gas deal was celebrated in Baku during an event which marked Azerbaijan’s national Oil Workers’ Day and the 30th anniversary of the signing of the ACG PSA.

The participating interests of the ACG co-venturers in the NAG project are the same as in the existing ACG PSA i.e., bp (30.37%), SOCAR (25.0%), MOL (9.57%), INPEX (9.31%), Equinor (7.27%), ExxonMobil (6.79%), TPAO (5.73%), ITOCHU (3.65%), ONGC Videsh (2.31%). bp remains the operator of the ACG PSA.

NAG reservoirs are multiple geological formations beneath and above the currently producing oil reservoirs, and were not initially included in the existing ACG PSA. In 2022, ACG co-venturers and SOCAR agreed to drill a data well into the NAG reservoirs to collect gas pressure data. The data well was completed in 2023, and the interpretation of the acquired data confirmed the presence of natural gas resources within the expected pressure range.

ONGC is India’s largest government-run corporation and produces about 70% of India’s crude oil and natural gas. The corporation is the biggest public sector commercial organization in India.