30 Sep 2020

To further boost manufacturing and procurement of products indigenously from local markets, Team INDEG of ONGC, in collaboration with Oil India Limited (OIL), organized a webinar on Product Development on 30 September 2020. The webinar was conducted with the objective to realize the government’s initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat in upstream petroleum industry.

ONGC Director (T&FS) Mr Om Prakash Singh stated that energy is the prime mover of any economy. “The COVID-19 scenario has posed serious business challenges even in the oil & gas industry. To navigate through the challenges, major focus should be put on cost-optimization and operational excellence". He said that ONGC has  put consistent efforts over the years to support local manufacturers and in the present scenario, “we should be more vocal for local manufacturing”. Mr. Singh pointed out that the oil industry is technology and cost-intensive and quality is of paramount significance which may otherwise hinder operations.

In his opening remarks, ONGC Director (Onshore) Mr Anurag Sharma stressed on the key focus of the webinar, which is to encourage vendors and other stakeholders towards self-reliance in products and services in the upstream petroleum industry. He stated that India is the third largest energy market and hydrocarbon will continue to be the key requirement. Citing the list of items and services which have been drawn up for localization, Mr Sharma noted that there is lot of scope for indigenization. “Joint efforts of the two oil PSUs and vendors will help to make the country self-reliant.”

“In the last 65 years, ONGC has developed many local manufacturers. ONGC and OIL intend to boost indigenization and we encourage vendors to join us, to together realize the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” said Mr Sharma.

MoPNG Joint Secretary (Refineries) Mr Sunil Kumar said that at present the time is to make a conducive environment for investment and local manufacturing of products. He noted that the ministry has been taking several initiatives to facilitate indigenization. “To support new manufacturers the turnover criteria for start-ups has been refined by the government. Several policies have been introduced to facilitate ease of doing business for MSMEs.”

Mr Kumar noted that there had been tremendous growth in exploration and production to match the increasing demand of oil & gas in the country. He urged vendors to join hands in capacity and quality building.

Speaking on the occasion, OIL Director (Operations) Mr Pankaj Kumar Goswami stated that the oil industry needs lots of products, which are both indigenous and imported. He asserted that while it’s difficult to procure all products indigenously, OIL is putting its best to locally procure the products which are now being imported. He mentioned that like ONGC, OIL has also formed an INDEG Team with senior and efficient employees to look into the matter.

Earlier, after the keynote addresses, Head INDEG ONGC Mr Rakesh Kumar Sharma gave a detailed presentation on the topic. Mr Sharma mentioned that the OFSE market has been growing steadily in line with the increase in E&P activities; however, indigenization has not yet kept pace. The presentation covered wide range of issues like the government reforms and improving infrastructure, procurement policies in operation, roadmap for Atmanirbhar Bharat, technology landscape in E&P equipment, product development and New Vendor Promotion by ONGC. Discussing the road map towards self-reliant India, Mr Sharma classified E&P equipment on the period in which they can be manufactured indigenously viz. short term (0-2 years), medium term (2-4) years and long term (4-5 years).

Speaking at the webinar, ONGC ED-Chief Technical Services Mr R K Singh highlighted that ONGC is persistently trying to spread awareness on localization. “We have recently given an order of five sea water pumps worth Rs 50 crore to a local vendor". He urged vendors to take risks while investing to pave way towards self-reliance.

ONGC ED-Chief MM Mr AP Tripathi said that there is lot of scope of developing locally the items which are usually imported. He mentioned that ONGC has been reviewing its existing policies and new terms will very shortly be introduced to support local vendors.

Resident Chief Executive of OIL Mr Dilip Kumar Das exhorted vendors to join jands with PSUs and the government to lessen import of products by boosting local manufacturing. ED-C&P OIL Mr Gautam Chandra Dev noted that in oil industry, especially for advanced E&P technologies, reliance on foreign products is more. He urged vendors to work more in the technological front.

The session continued with an interactive Q&A session, where industry partners shared their opinions and suggestions. Mr Avnish Kumar of Jindal SAW Ltd shared that the company has been producing 90% of the casing and drilling pipes required, and are working towards upgrading its capacity to cover up the entire 100%. He urged that if Jindal SAW is developing a new product it should be for the entire industry and not for specific PSUs. Mr Sunil Diwakar from BHEL noted that BHEL has been supplying equipment to ONGC for several decades. He sought similar support from other PSUs to make indigenous products.