INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is facing delays at a $5 billion-plus deep-water development off the country's east coast due to the oil market malaise caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. News of the likely delays involving the Cluster-2 region of its KG-DWN-98/2 asset came as the state giant unveiled its first ever quarterly loss. Managing director Shashi Shanker this week said that the schedule for its Cluster-2 development is likely to be affected due to the Covid-19 situation and "force majeure" issues. "Time schedule (for KG-DWN-98/2) will get impacted... and there will be some delays," he told reporters on a video call. However, Shanker did not elaborate on the likely length of delays, saying that several contractors involved in the project are yet to come back on the actual execution plan. He added that multiple equipment manufacturers and providers in the UK, Italy and elsewhere have been severely impacted by the industry downturn, with several plants being closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, although many are now slowly resuming work.
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