New Delhi: Public sector upstream giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will start gas production from its eastern offshore deep-water field in the Krishna-Godavari block KG-DWN-98/2 soon, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said in June after taking charge as a member of the Modi 3.0 Cabinet.

The minister said that oil and gas public sector undertakings have done well. ONGC has floated a tender to get an international tech partner, he added. He also said that oil production will increase to 45,000 barrels per day very soon. The focus of the oil ministry under the new government would be on boosting oil and gas exploration, green hydrogen and increasing gas consumption in the country, he added.

The minister ruled out the privatisation of BPCL. “Why would we divest ourselves of highly successful Maharatnas like BPCL,” he said. “BPCL has made more money in the first 3 quarters than the stake sale amount,” Puri said.

BPCL’s profit after tax for FY 2023-24 came in at 26,673 crores, nearly 13 times higher than the previous fiscal year. Additionally, the company’s planned capital outlay of 1.7 lakh crores over 5 years under ‘Project Aspire’ underlines its commitment to creating long-term value for shareholders.

The combined profit of the public sector oil marketing companies for FY 2023-24 stood at Rs 86,000 crore, over 25 times higher than the extraordinarily difficult previous fiscal year. For the full 2023-24 fiscal, HPCL reported a record net profit of Rs 16,014 crore as opposed to a loss of Rs 6,980 crore in the previous year. IOCL capped an excellent year with the historically best refinery throughput, sales volume and net profit.

Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi also assumed charge on Tuesday and was welcomed by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Gopi made history by becoming the first-ever BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kerala and was among the 71 Council of ministers who took the oath of office after PM Modi was sworn in for a record third consecutive term.