Oil PSUs' output from overseas fields up a tad
India's state-run firms' output from overseas oil and gas fields marginally rose in 2023-24 after declining for four straight years. The output, however, remained a fifth below the peak of 2018-19 as producing fields matured and no new overseas assets were acquired in recent years.
The share of India's state companies in oil and gas production from overseas fields increased to 19.9 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE) in 2023-24 from 19.5 MMTOE in the previous year.
Production at Russia's Skahalin-1 project normalised during the financial year, after being badly affected in 2022 following the launch of the Russia-Ukraine war. ONGC Videsh, India's largest investor in overseas oil and gas fields, has a stake in Sakhalin-1, where production had nearly halted for some time following the exit of its operator Exxon, industry executives said.
Similarly, production at ONGC Videsh's two projects in South Sudan, which were shut by unprecedented floods previously, resumed in 2023-24, the executives said.
Voluntary production cuts by OPEC+ countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, also affect Indian firms' overseas output. Russia, UAE, Azerbaijan and South Sudan are members of OPEC+, a grouping of about two dozen oil-producing countries that jointly coordinate oil production and have been producing less than their capacity. Some of Indian firms' key producing assets are located in these four countries, with Russia accounting for the largest share of production for these firms.
Big investments in Russian fields
