Oil & Natural Gas Commission will raise Rs 9,000 crore for its petrochemicals project in joint venture with Gujarat State Petroleum Corp, a company executive said.

"It will be through syndicated loans," director (finance) D K Sarraf said, adding, "We will complete the transaction in March or early April." ONGC Petro Additions Ltd, a joint venture of ONGC and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp, is building a petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat.

Meanwhile, ONGC expects its net profit for the current financial year ending March 31 to be flat or marginally higher than that in the last fiscal. "At the current level of crude oil prices and (oil) subsidy, even maintaining a profit is a challenge," Sarraf said. The company posted a net profit of Rs 19,872 crore in FY08.

"Last year, our subsidy burden was Rs 22,000 crore," Sarraf said, adding, "This year, the industry is sharing Rs 32,000 crore. Our share will be Rs 27,000 crore."

State-run exploration and production companies such as ONGC have to share about one-third of state-run refiners' losses arising out of selling retail fuel below cost, as the government controls the prices to check inflation.

ONGC is not giving any such discounts to state-run refiners at present. Thus, net profit in the fourth quarter will be higher than that in the third quarter, Sarraf said.

ONGC posted a 43% decline in net profit to Rs 2,475 crore in the three months ended December 31.

The company has earned gross realisations of about $45 per barrel so far this quarter on selling oil to the refineries, Sarraf said. Last year, the rate was about $50-55 a barrel after subsidies.

ONGC's planned capital expenditure for the next fiscal, beginning April 1, is expected to be similar to the current fiscal at about Rs 20,000 crore, said Sarraf.