Oil and Natural Gas Corporation: Despite the US imposing a penalty, the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will continue to buy oil from Russia.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation: The US has increased the baseline tariff of 25 percent imposed on India to 50 percent. This extra 25 percent has been imposed as a penalty for buying oil from Russia. However, amidst all this, the government company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said on Friday that it will continue to buy oil from Russia as long as it finds it commercially correct to do so.

ONGC Chairman Arun Kumar Singh says there is no ban on Russian oil as of now. Unless the government takes another decision, we will continue to buy. The company also said that if ONGC gets energy assets at the right price, it will consider acquiring them abroad as well. 

ONGC has 21 ongoing projects 

The company's two units - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals - regularly buy oil from Russia for their refineries. Meanwhile, the company is also planning to increase its domestic production in the current financial year. It currently has 21 projects underway, with an estimated cost of around Rs 66,000 crore. Of these, nine are development projects and the rest are infrastructure-related projects. 

The company is looking for investment opportunities 

ONGC Videsh Managing Director Rajarshi Gupta had also said earlier that the company is considering investing in LNG and upstream assets in the US. He further said that the company is looking for more greenfield and brownfield assets in many other countries, including Latin America, Africa, and West Asia.

"We are looking for suitable assets in the US. We have three projects in Russia, but we are also looking at other geographies," he said, naming Latin America and Africa. He said these countries have immense potential as they are rich in minerals. He expects crude oil prices to remain in the range of around $60 per barrel in the near future. 

Imports from Russia increased due to the war with Ukraine 

Let us tell you that both India and China are the biggest buyers of oil from Russia. Since the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, India has further increased the import of crude oil from Russia. According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, in the year 2018, about 1.3 percent of India's total oil imports came from Russia. At the same time, in the financial year 2024-25, it increased to about 35 percent.