This is India's first company to hold board meeting at high sea

ONGC chairman Shashi Shanker

MAHARATNA PSU Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has become India's first company to hold a meeting of its Board of Directors at high sea when it top officials assembled at an oil installation in the Arabian Sea to approve second quarter earnings.
ONGC's new Chairman Shashi Shanker convened the company's 299th board meeting at a platform on Mumbai High field on October 28 to approve the second quarter earnings among other things, media reports said.
"The idea was to familiarise the independent directors, most...
of whom are new to the unique oil and gas exploration and production business, to offshore operations," an official was quoted as saying.
ONGC produces more than 80 per cent of its oil and gas from offshore fields with Mumbai High, off the coast of Maharashtra, being the biggest.
The oil giant is betting big on quickly putting to production untapped discoveries as well as rejuvenating ageing fields offshore to raise crude oil production by 4 million tonnes and almost double natural gas output by 2021-22 to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of cutting India's import dependence by 10 per cent.
The government has named two new independent directors recently -- BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, and Ganga Murthy. The government nominee director Rajiv Bansal, Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, came on board only in August this year.
Most of the seven independent directors on ONGC board assumed charge just a few months back and the meeting in offshore was part of an exercise to familiarise them with ope ..
The PSU plans to raise crude oil production from 22.6 million tonnes in 2017-18 to 26.42 million tonnes in 2021-22. Gas production is planned to be raised from current 60 million standard cubic meters per day to 110 mmscmd.
The nation's biggest oil and gas producer has prepared the 'Roadmap for Import Reduction' two years after Narendra Modi set the target for reducing oil import dependence by 10 per cent, from 77 per cent in 2013-14.
India spent almost $1 trillion on crude imports from financial year 2005-06 to 2015-16.
Most of the seven independent directors on ONGC board assumed charge just a few months back and the meeting in offshore was part of an exercise to familiarise them with operations, reports added.
The board also reported its highest quarterly profit in more than two years, aided by an increase in oil prices and output.
Net profit in July-September rose 3.1 per cent to Rs 5,131 crore after output rose almost 1 per cent to 6.45 million tonnes and price realisation jumped 6.9 per cent to USD 51.22 per barrel.
The PSU said it has made four new oil and gas discoveries since July 27, taking the total to nine in the financial year that started April 1.
The PSU also posted a 8-percent increase in natural gas production and one per cent increase in crude oil production over the corresponding period last fiscal.
At its 299th meeting, the company board also declared an interim dividend of 60 per cent or Rs 3 on each equity share of Rs 5. An official statement said, the total payout on this account will be Rs 3,850 crore.
The record date for distribution of dividend has been fixed for November 6, 2017 which has been intimated to the stock exchanges. The payment of interim dividend to the shareholders shall start from November 7.
ONGC has notified nine discoveries till now in the financial year 2017-2018 out of which four discoveries have been made since July, 2017. Out of the four discoveries, two discoveries each have been made in offshore blocks and onshore blocks.