The Hindu Business Line : ONGC to pay 200 pc final dividend, issue 1:2 bonus in Nov

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is to issue bonus shares in the ratio of 1:2 in November and pay a final dividend of 200 per cent (in addition to the interim dividend already paid at 250 per cent) for the 2005-06 fiscal.

"The company board had recommended in July issuance of shares by November, by capitalisation of reserves. The bonus shares would be in the ratio of share each against two shares held. The post bonus equity of ONGC will stand at Rs 2,139 crore," the ONGC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R.S. Sharma, told newspersons after the 13th annual general meeting today.

The company clocked highest ever turnover of Rs 49,440 crore in 2005-06, up from Rs 47,245 crore. ONGC's net profit rose 11 per cent to Rs 14,431 crore.

ONGC's subsidiary, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), will raise about Rs 5,200 crore in the debt market to part-finance the expansion of its refining capacity to 15 million tonnes, Mr Sharma said.

Expansion

"The Rs 8,000-crore expansion of MRPL capacity from 9.69 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes will be done entirely on MRPL balance sheet," he said.

Explaining the issue, the MRPLDirector (Finance), Mr L.K. Gupta, said the project would be funded through a debt-equity ratio of 2:1. ``The initial capital requirement would be from internal accruals and about Rs 5,200-crore debt would be raised some time in 2008," he said.

The project would be completed in 48 months. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is likely to lay the foundation stone of ONGC's Rs 4,900-crore Petrochemical Complex at Mangalore in the second week of November. "We are trying to synchronise the foundation laying with the arrival of first crude oil from Sakhalin-I oilfields in Russia," Mr Sharma said.

ONGC plans to invest over Rs 35,000 crore in a new 15-mt refinery, petrochemical plant, power and LNG plants at Mangalore Special Economic Zone, which would be the first Petroleum, Chemicals, Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) of the country. "The integrated Aromatics (Petrochemicals) complex will produce paraxylene. The naphtha produced at MRPL (a ONGC subsidiary) will be upgraded to Paraxylene in this Aromatics Complex," he said.

LNG imports

The company is looking at importing five mt of LNG from Qatar, Egypt and Australia, to meet the countries growing fuel demands.

Mr Sharma said, "The first parcel of 90,000 tonnes from Sakhalin-I will be processed at our subsidiary MRPL." ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of ONGC, has 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-1 field. Full production from Sakhalin-1 fields would begin in the first quarter of 2007 and OVL's share would be 50,000 barrels per day of oil.

OVL that has 24 properties in 14 countries saw its share of oil production rise 25 per cent to 6.34 mt in 2005-06. OVL, which is looking for assets abroad along with Chinese firm Sinopec are paying $850 million to acquire Omimex de Columbia that currently produces 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

OVL and Sinopec are equal partners in the acquisition bid. ONGC will pay about $425 million to acquire 50 per cent stake in Columbian oil firm, Omimex de Columbia.

While maintaining that ONGC and L.N. Mittal Group are working well together, the company said that it will issue `comfort letter' to the latter assuring it of continuing the venture the two companies had formalised last year.

Mr R.S. Sharma said ONGC at its board meeting on September 6 decided to issue letter of comfort to Mittal Steel as well as get ONGC-Mittal Energy Services Ltd — the oil and gas trading venture — registered with ONGC. Mittal Group had, last month, written to the Petroleum Ministry about delays on the part of ONGC to register oil companies with ONGC Mittal Services Ltd, a joint venture that was to trade and ship oil and gas (including LNG).

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