The proposed merger of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is on the agenda of the Union Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The government is likely to give the control of HPCL to ONGC.

“The ONGC-HPCL proposal could be taken up by the Cabinet,” a senior government official said. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has twice given public statements that the merger of ONGC and HPCL would be completed in the current financial year.

NEW DELHI: The government has ordered Reliance Industries (RIL), Shell and ONGC to pay a combined $3 billion in penalty following an arbitration award in the Panna Mukta Tapti (PMT) oil field dispute that went in favour of the government, according to people familiar with the matter. RIL and Shell have appealed the arbitration award in a UK court.

The oil ministry sent out a demand notice last month to Reliance and Shell, which own 30% each in the PMT fields off the Mumbai coast, as well as to ONGC that owns the balance 40% participating interest. The three companies have to pay the penalty proportionate to their stake in the fields.

The benchmark indices zoomed to capture 32,000-level, gaining 660.12 points to finish the week at 32,020.75, while the broader Nifty marked the psychological 9,900-level for brief period before settling the week at 9,886.35, garnering 220.55 points.

This is the biggest weekly gain for the indices since mid-March.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) rallied 6% to Rs 382 in intra-day trade, extending its Wednesday’s 5% gain on the BSE, after the media report suggested that the merger of the company with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is likely to take place soon.

At 12:43 pm; the stock was trading 5% higher at Rs 376, against 0.66% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. It is quoting close to its record high of Rs 390 (adjusted to 1:2 bonus shares) on February 14, 2017 in intra-day trade. ONGC, on the other hand, was down 2% to Rs 160, erases its entire previous day’s gain.

The Department of Disinvestment has reportedly issued a Cabinet note on the proposed amalgamation of the state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd with the giant oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, amid news reports of the Prime Minister’s Office’s disappointment on the slow progress in the government’s quest to create a huge energy PSU of the global scale.

However, a deal may still not be immediately in sight, as the handover of HPCL to ONGC may take one year even after the government securing the Cabinet nod, hindi news channel CNBC Awaaz reported citing unidentified sources.

A protest against “leak” in an ONGC pipe at Kathiramangalam near here turned violent as locals and activists clashed with police officials, prompting them to baton charge the protestors which left several persons, including two policemen, injured. Police said the people and some activists, who allegedly belonged to a political party, had blocked road and disrupted traffic following the reported leak in a pipe. They also prevented the ONGC officials who had rushed to the spot to inspect and plug the leak, leading to tension, police said.

The Prime Minister’s Office is apparently unhappy with the slow pace of movement on the proposed amalgamation of the state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd with the giant oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, a move towards the government’s ambition to create a giant energy PSU of the global scale.

The PMO, however, is firm on merging the two oil companies, ET Now reported on Thursday citing an unnamed oil ministry official.

New Delhi, June 27: State-owned explorer ONGC Ltd has got an environmental clearance to drill five wells for shale gas and oil in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin at an estimated cost of Rs 217 crore.

ONGC had proposed further exploration of shale gas and oil in the KG basin and was examined by the environment ministry.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has received environmental clearance for drilling five wells to explore shale gas and oil in the KG basin of Andhra Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 217 crore. ONGC has been operating in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin for the past more than 35 years. The exploratory efforts so far have led to the discovery of 65 small-to-medium sized hydrocarbon fields with about 356 million tonnes (oil and oil equivalent gas) of initial in-place on-land reserves.

Shashi Shanker will be the next Chairman and Managing Director of India's biggest oil and gas producer, ONGC.

Government headhunter Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) selected Shanker to head Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) from October 1.

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