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India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) has received board approval for a strategic investment exceeding $1 billion to construct new petrochemical complexes in India. This move is part of ONGC's initiative to augment production capacity within its existing petrochemical portfolio.

Considering projections indicating a sustained decline in demand for crude oil-based transportation fuels, ONGC's board has given the green light to invest around 1 trillion rupees ($1.2 billion) by 2028 or 2030 in two major projects. 

These projects involve the establishment of two grassroots petrochemical complexes, each located in different Indian states. The aim is to elevate ONGC's current petrochemical production capacity from approximately 3.4 million tonnes per year (tpy) to a range between 8.5-9 million tpy by 2030.

While the board has approved the investment projects, potentially including a joint-venture partnership, both ventures are still contingent on necessary approvals from regulatory bodies, including India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The company has not revealed any further details on the new projects at the time of this report. 

In August, ONGC also disclosed collaboration efforts with other entities to explore opportunities for setting up two oil-to-chemical (O2C) grassroots plants in India. These plants, utilizing O2C technology, aim to directly transform 40-60% of crude oil feedstock into chemicals.

ONGC presently produces petrochemicals through subsidiaries Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) and ONGC Petro additions Ltd. (OPaL).

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India