07 September,2009 01:38 PM IST | | PTI
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) plans to rapidly ramp up crude oil production of Imperial Energy, the firm it acquired early this year, and consolidate operations even as it looks at opportunities to expand its presence in western Siberia.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of the state-run explorer, is currently in the process of consolidating operations. "When we took over (Imperial in January 2009), oil production had fallen to below 6,000 barrels per day. We were able to restore it to about 8,200 bpd by May and have now ramped it up to 11,200 bpd," an official said.
As a confidence building measure, India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora visited the Imperial Energy headquarters here and met Tomsk Governor Viktor Kress. The visit was aimed at helping the transition of the company from British parentage to an Indian one.
Deora, who flew into this sleepy western Siberia town yesterday evening, was given a presentation on Imperial operations and was informed that the output would be ramped up to about 16,000 bpd by the year end. By the end of 2010, the production is targeted to cross 25,000 bpd.
