Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India's biggest petroleum explorer, may have to pay the government 72 percent more this year in subsidies as crude oil soared to a record.
Oil & Natural Gas would cover as much as 380 billion rupees ($8.9 billion) in revenue losses for the government in the year ending March 2009, from 220 billion rupees last year, Company Chairman R.S. Sharma recently told at the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur. Subsidies may increase further as the current payouts are calculated at an oil price of $130 a barrel, he said.
``The surge in crude oil prices is very disturbing and rather alarming especially for growing economies like India,'' Sharma said. ``I expect oil prices to go up to $150 a barrel if there are supply disruptions.''
Oil & Natural Gas, the largest supplier of crude oil and natural gas in India, may earn $75 on every barrel of oil it sells in the year ending March 31 against $52 a barrel last year, Goldman Sachs analysts estimated. The analysts assumed oil prices at $129 a barrel.
New Delhi-based Oil & Natural Gas plans to produce about 20 million metric tons a year of oil equivalent by 2020 from its overseas fields from 8.76 million last year, Sharma said. The company has increased its overseas assets to 38 from a single one seven year's back, he said. ``We have the capacity to invest $20 billion in the next 5 to 10 years,'' Sharma said. ``We should be able to meet $5 to $10 billion from our internal resources and borrow the rest against our producing assets.''
Oil & Natural Gas would cover as much as 380 billion rupees ($8.9 billion) in revenue losses for the government in the year ending March 2009, from 220 billion rupees last year, Company Chairman R.S. Sharma recently told at the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur. Subsidies may increase further as the current payouts are calculated at an oil price of $130 a barrel, he said.
``The surge in crude oil prices is very disturbing and rather alarming especially for growing economies like India,'' Sharma said. ``I expect oil prices to go up to $150 a barrel if there are supply disruptions.''
Oil & Natural Gas, the largest supplier of crude oil and natural gas in India, may earn $75 on every barrel of oil it sells in the year ending March 31 against $52 a barrel last year, Goldman Sachs analysts estimated. The analysts assumed oil prices at $129 a barrel.
New Delhi-based Oil & Natural Gas plans to produce about 20 million metric tons a year of oil equivalent by 2020 from its overseas fields from 8.76 million last year, Sharma said. The company has increased its overseas assets to 38 from a single one seven year's back, he said. ``We have the capacity to invest $20 billion in the next 5 to 10 years,'' Sharma said. ``We should be able to meet $5 to $10 billion from our internal resources and borrow the rest against our producing assets.''
Next Story
