The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) did not try hard enough to complete the committed work in 75 per cent of the blocks it had acquired through bidding. Also, ONGC could not monetise the discoveries made during the 2002-2011 period, leading to low production.

The CAG report on ONGC’s hydrocarbon exploration efforts said the company did not complete its committed work in 25 prospective blocks, drilling only 30 of the 90 committed wells in the specified period. The auditor said the company had succeeded in monetising only two of the 56 offshore discoveries and 73 of its 158 discoveries during 2002-2011. “Non-monetised offshore discoveries contained major reserve accretion,” the report stated.