Agartala: State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said Wednesday its investments have not been affected due to slowdown in the country’s economy.
Speaking to reporters here, ONGC CMD Shashi Shanker said the investments of the company are long-term and take time to yield profits.
“Our investments are long-term and it takes long for them to yield profits but our fundamentals are very strong both in oil and natural gas and we are progressing well,” stated Shanker.
“ONGC has always been a profit making compay with government stake of 62 per cent and it has made large-scale foreign investments in Middle East, different countries of Africa and even in Venezuela,” added the ONGC chief.
Shanker also said that the economic slowdown has not affected ONGC’s investments. The economic situation has not impacted our investment. We have had Rs 1.5 lakh crore capital investment in last five years with nearly Rs 30,000 crore additional investment every year,” informed Shanker.
Speaking on the fall in the company’s share prices, he said it might have happened due to adverse environment for companies dealing with fossil fuels.
“A recent study showed that oil and gas company shares are at 10 year low across all companies. In 2019-20, some international companies suffered losses,” the CMD said. “One of reasons responsible for the share price decline might be the successive ETF,” added Shanker.
The ONGC chief also informed that the company has given exploration drive for augmenting gas reserve in Tripura. The state now produces 31 per cent of onshore gas production in the country and 4.6 per cent of total natural gas.
PTI