ONGC Dividend 2023: India's largest oil and gas producer declares 2nd interim dividend

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has fixed the record date for the payment of 2nd interim Dividend to its shareholders.

According to an exchange filing by the public sector company, the Dividend will be paid to the investors if declared by the Board of Directors at the meeting on Tuesday, February 14. The board is slated to meet today to consider and approve the third quarter results.

The state-owned oil and natural gas company has fixed February 24, 2023, as the Record Date to determine the shareholders' eligibility for the second interim Dividend payment. "In terms of Regulation 42 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, Friday, February 24, 2023, will be the Record Date for determining the eligibility of shareholders for payment of the said Interim Dividend, if declared by the Board of Directors," the company said in an exchange filing.

Shares of ONGC quoted Rs 147.85 apiece on NSE around 10 AM on Tuesday. The scrip has yielded an average return of around 6 percent in the past six months, while it has declined 11 percent in the past year.

India's largest oil and gas producer is expected to reverse years of decline this year and gradually raise output after that, as it invests billions of dollars in producing from newer discoveries, a top company official said.

ONGC in fiscal 2021-22 produced 21.707 million tonnes of crude oil, refined to produce petroleum products like petrol and diesel, and 21.68 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas, which is used to produce electricity, manufacture fertilizer and as CNG in automobiles.

In the current fiscal year (2022-23), crude oil production is slated to rise to 22.823 million tonnes and gas to 22.099 cm. In the following fiscal year, oil production will climb to 24.636 million tonnes, and 25.689 million tonnes in 2024-25. Natural gas production is slated to rise to 25.685 cm in 2023-24 and 27.529 cm in the following year.

ONGC, which contributes around 71 percent to India's domestic production, has reported a gradual decline in output for over a decade, primarily because its fields are aging. The government has considered giving away ONGC's most significant oil and gas fields to private and foreign companies to boost output, but this has faced internal resistance.