State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said it will invest Rs 164,000

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crore on oil and gas exploration in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

Almost 97 per cent of the planned capital expenditure in the five-year period will be on exploration and production, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Sudhir Vasudeva told reporters on the sidelines of a TERI function here.

The company is targeting production of 149 million tonnes of crude oil production in the 12th Five-Year period, almost 20 per cent higher than the current Plan.

After accounting for natural gas production, ONGC's output in 2012-17 would be 277 million tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas, nearly 40 million tonnes more than in the 11th Five-Year Plan.

On the subsidy issue, Vasudeva said, "There is no clarity on it."

The subsidy bills for ONGC are left to the whims of the government. The situation has accentuated even more since the government opted to give only cash subsidies.

Asked about ONGC disinvestment, Vasudeva said, "The government will take a call on disinvestment of the company."

The government plans to sell a 5 per cent stake in ONGC, or 427.77 million shares, through a follow-on public offer (FPO).

The share sale had been deferred because the company does not meet market regulator SEBI's listing norm for half of its board to be made up of independent directors, besides fluctuating market conditions.