ONGC to invest $20 bn on assets abroad

Dahej (Gujarat), March 14 (IANS) India's energy behemoth, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), will invest $20 billion (Rs.90,000 crore) in assets abroad over the next decade.

"ONGC possessed the capacity to borrow up to $20 billion for its overseas projects given its net worth of $19 billion. We have, however, not set aside cash for our operations abroad," ONGC Chairman-cum-Managing Director R.S. Sharma said.

ONGC, a hydrocarbon exploration and production company, has invested $10 billion globally so far including its largest investment of $5 billion in Sakhalin, Russia.

Reviewing the progress of ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OpaL) at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) here, Sharma expressed satisfaction at the revenue earnings of the assets acquired in Russia, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Nigeria, and others.

He said the policy makers should give top priority to risk capital investment as India with 17 percent of global population possessed only 0.5 percent of global hydrocarbon reserves.

"The country's energy demand will grow exponentially and we need to anticipate it and fan out globally in an aggressive manner to plan for our future requirements," Sharma said.