Low oil prices putting ONGC margins under pressure

Monday, 22 December 2008, 23:27 IST
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New Delhi: India's largest oil explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is finding it difficult to make ends meet because of the low ruling global oil prices, the company said here Monday. "We are not comfortable with the current prices, our margins are under pressure," ONGC chairman R.S. Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of the contract signing ceremony of blocks awarded to companies under the seventh round of hydrocarbon block auctions. Oil was ruling at $44 a barrel Monday, down from more than $140 in July when it reached its peak. At the energy ministers' meeting in London Friday, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had emphasised the need for "reasonable" oil prices. "Oil prices should be reasonable, neither too low to discourage investment in capacity and capability build-up, nor too high playing havoc with import dependent economies," he had said.
Source: IANS