Headquartered in Delhi, ONGC is under the ownership of the Government of India and administration of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

[5] On 1 November 2017, the Union Cabinet approved ONGC for acquiring a majority 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).

The major part of Indian sedimentary basins was deemed to be unfit for the development of oil and gas resources.

[8] After independence, the Central Government of India realized the importance of oil and gas for rapid industrial development and its strategic role in defence.

In West Bengal, the Indo-Stanvac Petroleum project (a joint venture between the Government of India and Standard Vacuum Oil Company of USA) was engaged in exploration work.

Experts from Romania, the Soviet Union, the United States and West Germany subsequently visited India and helped the government with their expertise.

[8] Since its inception, ONGC has been instrumental in transforming the country's limited upstream sector into a large viable playing field, with its activities spread throughout India and significantly in overseas territories.

[8] In 1963, ONGC discovered oil and gas sites in Sivasagar district and established oilfields in Lakua, Gelekey, and Rudrasagar.

The argument in support for this step, by LP Mathur and BS Negi, was that Indian demand for crude would go up at a faster rate than discoveries by ONGC in India.

This was the very first investment by the Indian public sector in foreign countries and oil from Rostum and Raksh was brought to Cochin where it was refined in a refinery built with technical assistance from Phillips.

[11][12][citation needed] In 2011, ONGC applied to purchase 2000 acres of land at Dahanu to process offshore gas.

[13] ONGC Videsh, along with Statoil ASA (Norway) and Repsol SA (Spain), has been engaged in deep-water drilling off the northern coast of Cuba in 2012.

[15] In January 2014, OVL and Oil India completed the acquisition of Videocon Group's ten percent stake in a Mozambican gas field for a total of $2.47 billion.

[16] In June 2015, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) gave a ₹27bn ($427m) offshore contract for the Bassein development project to Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

[17] In February 2016, the board of ONGC approved an investment of ₹ 5,050 crore in Tripura for drilling of wells and creation of surface facilities to produce 5.1 million standard cubic feet per day gas from the state's fields.

[20] In the year 2023, ONGC made an announcement stating its plans to invest a large sum of money in the exploration of deepwater and ultra-deepwater, despite the ongoing decrease in the company's production of oil and gas.

[20] In May 2023, ONGC announced that it would start its oil production in the Krishna Godavari Basin by June[21] and appointed Manish Patil as its director of human resources.

[22] ONGC's operations include conventional exploration and production, refining and progressive development of alternate energy sources like coal-bed methane and shale gas.

[5] Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company with its headquarters at Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation owns 51.11% shares in HPCL and others are distributed amongst financial institutes, public and other investors.

MRPL has a design capacity to process 15 million metric tons per annum and has 2 Hydrocrackers producing Premium Diesel (High Cetane).

[34][35][36] The complex, covering 585 hectares (1,446 acres), was founded in 2006 through a collaboration involving the ONGC, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).

The company continued to sell Russian Sokol crude oil to Indian refiners, drawing concerns over its role in supporting Russia's energy sector.

ONGC has been listed on platforms like Leave Russia, which tracks companies still engaged in the Russian market, raising questions about its alignment with global economic sanctions and ethical considerations.