Dr Ranjit Rath, CMD, OIL speaks to CNBC-TV18

Okay, first of all, thank you very much for having me. Good morning to you and all your viewers. We had an excellent AGM yesterday followed by a press meet. Very happy to be here. Number one, the year just passed by FY25. We had a landmark year with highest ever production of crude oil and natural gas. That's 6.71 million metric ton oil and oil equivalent. As far as FY26 is concerned, we are looking at about 7 and a half million metric ton of oil and oil equivalent. We are looking at a much higher number of drilling. We are looking at a much higher number of exploration acreage and seismic data coverage. As far as Numaligarh is concerned, I must give you an assurance that the expansion is on track as we speak. The primary units, that is the CDU and the VDU of 6 million metric ton crude throughput, we will start commissioning by December 2025, and the DHT, that is diesel hydrotreating unit, will also be ready, but we need to have the sulfur unit ready first because I would like to explain that these are all batch basis commissioning and always linked. Therefore, we would start doing the remaining units commissioning by 31st March. By FY 2027, we would be looking at about 40 to 50% capacity utilization and sometime by 2028 for complete stabilization of 9 million metric ton. The second question you had asked before that I would also like to say.

Okay, so currently the capacity utilization of a 3 million throughput is 100% plus. Last year also it was 100% plus. And going forward, we are looking at that number also. In addition to that, beyond the Numaligarh refinery expansion, honorable Prime Minister has already laid the foundation stone of a polypropylene unit. That's another 7,000 crore investment. The basic design is in place. The detailed design is in place. The licensor selection is in place. So we are looking at 2028-29 to complete that as well. That will give us the petrochemical intensity index. So that's the Numaligarh good story.

So it's like this. 4 million metric ton of crude oil movement is primarily done through the infield lines and then the bowsers and then you have the trunk line to feed the refineries. The gas piece is contingent upon having a robust evacuation facility. Currently we are doing about 8 million standard cubic meters per day gas evacuation to regional customers, and we are looking at taking it to 13 million standard cubic meters per day. That is going to happen by the connectivity of Northeast Gas Grid. Phase one of Northeast Gas Grid has already reached Numaligarh from Guwahati. GAIL has already connected mainland India to Northeast by taking the pipeline to Guwahati. We have one dedicated line which is Duliajan to Numaligarh. The capacity expansion is expected by this year end from 1 million standard cubic meter to 2.5 million standard cubic meters per day, which will cater to the Numaligarh refinery expansion post. We also have a fertilizer plant which has come in there through the Namu 4, which is a urea and ammonia plant, 10,600 crore investment. Oil India has got a stake of 18%, Government of Assam has got 40% investment. There also we are looking at 0.7 million standard cubic meter per day natural gas supply once the Duliajan feeder line gets connected to the mainland pipeline. We will be able to evacuate minimum five to six million standard cubic meters per day. That will give us the evacuation opportunity. Till such time, we have already strategized our drilling program and we will be prepared to generate or produce 5 BCM of natural gas. As far as crude oil is concerned, we have enhanced our drilling efforts. Our rig counts are going to be 28 to 30 in number. Last year we had spotted 70 wells, completed 59. This year our target is to do 80. Based on this, we intend to achieve by this year end 7.5 million metric ton oil and oil equivalent, and going forward it will be 8.5 million with 4 million metric ton of crude oil.

No categorization. This is from the production of our near field exploration efforts from our mining leases. Should there be any new discovery from our exploration acreages, there will be addition to it.

It could impact, but it is not much as far as Oil India's balance sheet is concerned. This year we are looking at about 300 to 400 crore for that matter, will be the impact on the bottom line. Bottom line we haven't calculated. We are just waiting to see how our investments will pan out, but more or less the impact is about 400 crore as far as the GST is concerned.