Even after the revenue of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has over 80 percent since 2008, the company's stock price is trading below the 2008 levels. In 2008, the stock fell to the lowest level of Rs 101.97 as against its 52-week low of Rs 51.80 hit on March 13.

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ONGC share has tumbled over 44 percent this year to trade around its 2004 levels making it the cheapest oil and gas company globally. The stock price has dipped below Rs 100 per share, its lowest in 15 years.

The sharp decline in the market price of the state-owned company pushed the company's market capitalisation (market-cap) below Rs 1 trillion-mark for the first time since August 2004.

This comes amid the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led the markets, equity as well as commodity, into the selloff mode. Crude oil prices also plunged to 18-year low, as governments worldwide accelerated lockdowns to counter the pandemic. Meanwhile, the virtual break-up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)-Russia alliance amid the Covid-19 disruption led to oil prices crashing to the $30s.

In a statement, the company said that the sudden and sharp decline in crude oil prices in the last few days had let to a lot of volatility in the sector, hitting share prices of upstream oil and gas producer firms.

The outbreak of coronavirus which dampened global demand and the failure of talks of OPEC+ to arrive at an agreement on production cut has led to a drastic decline in oil prices, it added.

Reflecting confidence in its crude oil off-take and recovery in prices, ONGC said: “All these major developments bring in some uncertainty for the oil and gas sector and specifically for oil and gas producing companies. While the decline in oil prices has affected the off-take of the exporting upstream companies, the companies operating in net importing countries like India have no such issues relating to off-take. Global oil markets are regulated by fundamentals and the prices cannot sustain at such levels for long.”

Global brokerage JPMorgan, while maintaining its buy rating on the stock, has cut the price target from Rs 190 to Rs 172 due to a cut in earnings estimates amid weak global oil prices. JP Morgan says the stock offers attractive yields of about 8 percent.

Earlier this week, the company declared a 100 percent interim dividend and said it has sufficient funds to continue operations in an era of extreme volatility in oil prices.

ONGC said the right level of prices at which the industry can operate and some sort of an equilibrium can be achieved will restore sooner than later. Historically, in previous instances of sudden oil prices decline, the recoveries have also been sharp and in some cases 'V' shaped.