Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 196.21 points, or 1.17%, to 16,828.22.
On BSE, 16,611 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 1.93 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 1189 and a low of Rs 1175.20 so far during the day. The stock had hits a 52-week high of Rs 1273.50 on 14 October 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 614.20 on 27 January 2009.
The large-cap stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 27 November 2009, rising 0.42% as compared to the Sensex's 1.70% rise. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, falling 0.66% as compared to the Sensex's return of 5.39%.
The company's equity capital is Rs 2138.87 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
The current price of Rs 1182.30 discounts the company's Q2 September 2009 annualized EPS of Rs 95.18, by a PE multiple of 12.42.
The new hydrocarbon structure located at North Kadi in the Mehsana area is likely to produce at least one million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of oil (about 20,000 barrels of oil per day). This is a little less than half the oil production from Mehsana, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)'s largest onshore field with a production of 2.2 mmtpa. This could be the largest onshore oil find for ONGC in the last one decade. The area has the potential of producing 1 mmtpa of oil and can possibly even go up to 2 mmtpa. ONGC has about 1,200 drilling wells in Mehsana. The new location will require about 500 wells to be drilled and the estimated investment for this would be about Rs 500 crore.
ONGC has completed the seismic study of the area and will start drilling once it gets the requisite permissions. The development assumes significance, as depleting oil reserves, especially on the onshore fields, have been a major cause of concern for the state-run PSU. In the past three years, ONGC's total onshore oil production in India has declined by 1-1.5 million tonnes due to ageing wells and depleting layers of hydrocarbons. ONGC had struck oil in the North Kadi area over four decades earlier. It is a proven field. Mehsana has submitted a proposal for release of a new location to the higher officials. The necessary civil work for drilling is expected to start soon.
Early this month, the government allowed ONGC Videsh - the overseas arm of ONGC to invest an additional Rs 322 crore in an oilfield in Brazil. The approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) will raise the total investment in the project to Rs 1,762 crore.
Last month, ONGC bagged over a third of the 70 blocks offered under India's eighth New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP 8), amid luke-warm response towards the bidding round. ONGC bid for 25 blocks and was awarded 11 offshore and two onshore concessions.
ONGC had on 28 August 2009 discovered gas at a block in the northeastern state of Tripura. The gas contains up to 96.3% methane.
ONGC's net profit rose 5.8% to Rs 5089.64 crore on 13.4% fall in net sales to Rs 15080.59 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.
ONGC specializes in the exploration and production of crude oil and gas. The company has joint ventures in oil fields in Vietnam, Norway, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran and Australia. The groups' other activities include deep-sea explorations on the east and west coasts of India, and the exploration of coal bed methane.