Reuters: ONGC Could Spend up to $7 Billion to Develop East Coast Block

India's top energy explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp could spend up to $7 billion to develop its block off the country's east coast and expects to begin gas production there in 2018, its chairman said on Thursday.

ONGC's block in the Krishna-Godavari basin should produce 77,000 barrels per day of oil and up to 17 million cubic metres a day of natural gas at peak rate, DK Sarraf told reporters, after ONGC reported a 14 percent jump in quarterly net profit.

He added that the investment figures were based on preliminary estimates and that the company had "no plan" currently to bring in a foreign partner for the deepwater development.

The company, which has struggled to maintain production from its ageing wells off India's west coast, is counting on the potentially large reserves of oil and gas from the KG-D5 block to boost future profits. MORE