India’s largest oil and gas producer is diversifying its portfolio through new joint ventures in petrochemicals trading and specialised energy logistics.
India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is embarking on a series of expansion projects to broaden its footprint in petrochemicals trading and energy logistics, as the state-run company seeks to diversify beyond oil and gas production. ONGC, along with group companies MRPL and OPaL, is in the process of establishing a petrochemicals trading joint venture, including third-party sales, following board approvals at both companies, with the formation currently awaiting government approval.
The company has also entered specialised energy logistics through two joint venture companies formed with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines of Japan for the shipment of ethane. ONGC contributes around 73 per cent of India’s crude oil production and roughly 58 per cent of its natural gas production.
ONGC’s chairman and chief executive officer Arun Kumar Singh told an investors’ call on May 27, 2026, that higher oil prices would provide an incentive to boost exploration activity and raise the share of domestic oil and gas production, noting that the global oil price outlook for the next two years was more favourable than the preceding two years. The company is executing approximately USD 3.4 billion of projects in the Western Offshore, which contributes roughly 60 per cent of ONGC’s oil output and 70 per cent of its gas. The company recorded a 5.3 per cent year-on-year fall in crude production to 4.45 million metric tonnes in the January to March 2026 quarter, reflecting reservoir complexities and the impact of the West Asia crisis on pipeline replacement projects. Crude production for the full year 2025-26 fell 1.1 per cent year-on-year to 18.36 million metric tonnes.
Source: S&P Global
