The story
Foundation to 1956
Before the independence of India in 1947, the Assam Oil Company in the north-eastern and Attock Oil Company in the north-western part of the undivided India were the only oil-producing companies, with minimal exploration input. The major part of Indian sedimentary basins was deemed to be unfit for the development of oil and gas resources.
After independence, the Central Government of India realized the importance of oil and gas for rapid industrial development and its strategic role in defence. Consequently, while framing the Industrial Policy Statement of 1948, the development of the petroleum industry in the country was considered to be of utmost necessity.
Until 1955, private oil companies mainly carried out exploration of hydrocarbon resources of India. In Assam, the Assam Oil Company was producing oil at Digboi (discovered in 1889) and Oil India Ltd. (a 50% joint venture between Government of India and Burmah Oil Company) was engaged in developing two newly discovered large fields Naharkatiya and Moraan in Assam. In West Bengal, the Indo-Stanvac Petroleum project (a joint venture between the Government of India and Standard Vacuum Oil Company of USA) was engaged in exploration work. The vast sedimentary tract in other parts of India and adjoining offshore remained largely unexplored.
In 1955, the Government of India decided to develop the oil and natural gas resources in the various regions of the country as part of the public sector development. With this objective, an Oil and Natural Gas Directorate was set up towards the end of 1955, as a subordinate office under the then Ministry of Natural Resources and Scientific Research. The department was constituted with a nucleus of geoscientists from the Geological Survey of India.
A delegation under the leadership of the minister of Natural Resources visited several European countries to study the status of the oil industry in those countries and to facilitate the training of Indian professionals for exploring potential oil and gas reserves. Experts from Romania, the Soviet Union, the United States and West Germany subsequently visited India and helped the government with their expertise. Soviet experts later drew up a detailed plan for geological and geophysical surveys and drilling operations to be carried out in the 2nd Five Year Plan (1956–61).
In April 1956, the Government of India adopted the Industrial Policy Resolution, which placed Mineral Oil Industry among the schedule 'A' industries, the future development of which was to be the sole and exclusive responsibility of the state.
Soon, after the formation of the Oil and Natural Gas Directorate, it became apparent that it would not be possible for the Directorate with its limited financial and administrative powers as a subordinate office of the Government, to function efficiently. So in August 1956, the Directorate was raised to the status of a commission with enhanced powers, although it continued to be under the government. In October 1959, the commission was converted into a statutory body by an act of the Indian Parliament, which enhanced powers of the commission further. The main functions of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission subject to the provisions of the Act were "to plan, promote, organize and implement programs for development of Petroleum Resources and the production and sale of petroleum and petroleum products produced by it, and to perform such other functions as the Central Government may, from time to time, assign to it ". The act further outlined the activities and steps to be taken by ONGC in fulfilling its mandate.
1961 to 2000
Since its inception, ONGC has been instrumental in transforming the country's limited upstream sector into a large viable playing field, with its activities spread throughout India and significantly in overseas territories. In the inland areas, ONGC not only found new resources in Assam but also established new oil province in Cambay basin (Gujarat), while adding new petroliferous areas in the Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and East coast basins (both onshore and offshore).
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In 1963, ONGC discovered oil and gas sites in Sivasagar district and established oilfields in Lakua, Gelekey, and Rudrasagar.
ONGC went offshore in the early 1970s and discovered a giant oil field in the form of Bombay High, now known as Mumbai High. This discovery, along with subsequent discoveries of huge oil and gas fields in Western offshore changed the oil scenario of the country. Subsequently, over 5 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons, which were present in the country, were discovered. The most important contribution of ONGC, however, is its self-reliance and development of core competence in E&P activities at a globally competitive level.
ONGC became a public listed company in February 1994, with 20% of its equity were sold to the public and eighty per cent retained by the Indian government. At the time, ONGC employed 48,000 people and had reserves and surpluses worth ₹104.34 billion (equivalent to ₹750 billion or US$7.8 billion in 2026), in addition to its intangible assets. The corporation's net worth of ₹107.77 billion (US$3.43 billion) was the largest of any Indian company.
In 1958 the then chairman, Keshav Dev Malaviya, held a meeting with some geologists in the Mussoorie office of the Geology Directorate where he accepted the need for ONGC to go outside India too in order to enhance Indian owned capacity for oil production. The argument in support for this step, by LP Mathur and BS Negi, was that Indian demand for crude would go up at a faster rate than discoveries by ONGC in India.
Malaviya followed this up by making ONGC apply for exploration licences in the Persian Gulf. Iran gave ONGC four blocks and Malaviya visited Milan and Bartlesville, Oklahoma to request ENI and Phillips Petroleum to join as partners in the Iran venture. This resulted in the discovery of the Rostum oilfield in the early 'sixties, very soon after the discovery of Ankleshwar in Gujarat. This was the very first investment by the Indian public sector in foreign countries and oil from Rostum and Raksh was brought to Cochin where it was refined in a refinery built with technical assistance from Phillips.
2001 to present
In 2003, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), the division of ONGC concerned with its foreign assets, acquired Talisman Energy's 25% stake in the Greater Nile Oil project.
In 2006, a commemorative coin set was issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of ONGC, making it only the second Indian company (State Bank of India being the first) to have such a coin issued in its honour.
In 2011, ONGC applied to purchase 2000 acres of land at Dahanu to process offshore gas. ONGC Videsh, along with Statoil ASA (Norway) and Repsol SA (Spain), has been engaged in deep-water drilling off the northern coast of Cuba in 2012. On 11 August 2012, ONGC announced that it had made a large oil discovery in the D1 oilfield off the west coast of India, which will help it to raise the output of the field from around 12,500 barrels per day (bpd) to a peak output of 60,000 bpd.
In January 2014, OVL and Oil India completed the acquisition of Videocon Group's ten per cent stake in a Mozambican gas field for a total of $2.47 billion.
In June 2015, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) gave a ₹27 billion (US$420.88 million) offshore contract for the Bassein development project to Larsen & Toubro (L&T).
In February 2016, the board of ONGC approved an investment of ₹50.5 billion (US$751.54 million) in Tripura for drilling of wells and creation of surface facilities to produce 5.1 million standard cubic feet per day gas from the state's fields.
On 19 July 2017, the Government of India approved the acquisition of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation by ONGC.
According to reports, ONGC's oil production decreased from 20.80 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2018 to 16.88 million tonnes during the April–February period of the fiscal year 2022–23.
In the year 2023, ONGC made an announcement stating its plans to invest a large sum of money in the exploration of deepwater and ultra-deepwater, despite the ongoing decrease in the company's production of oil and gas.
In May 2023, ONGC announced that it would start its oil production in the Krishna Godavari Basin by June and appointed Manish Patil as its director of human resources.
From Wikipedia’s article on Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5