ONGC profit dips 11% on sharp fall in oil prices

New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today reported a 11 percent drop in its September quarter net profit as slumping global crude prices hurt its revenues.

Net profit in the July-September quarter at Rs 4,842.02 crore was 11 percent lower than Rs 5,444.89 crore clocked in the same period of last fiscal, it said in a statement.

While the net price for crude oil produced from nomination fields, on which the company has to pay a fuel subsidy discount, was up 18 percent at USD 48.83 per barrel, the rates realised for oil produced from market-lined joint venture fields slumped 40 percent to about USD 50 per barrel.

ONGC said gross realisation from nomination fields was USD 51.24 per barrel and it allowed a USD 2.41 a barrel discount to PSU refiners to help them sell kerosene at the government controlled rate. Its net realisation of USD 48.83 per barrel compared with USD 41.45 per barrel of Q2 of last fiscal.

Its subsidy payout of Rs 596 crore in Q2 compared with Rs 13,641 crore payout in the same period last fiscal.

The impact of the subsidy discount on profit was Rs 329 crore in July-September quarter of current fiscal, a small percentage of Rs 7,645 crore impact ONGC had to bear on account of subsidy discounts a year earlier.

ONGC said revenue was up 1.1 percent at Rs 20,732 crore on account of higher production.

Crude oil production from its fields was up nearly 3 percent at 5.36 million tonnes (MT) while output from joint venture fields soared 5.1 percent to 0.91 MT.

Similarly, natural gas production from its own field was up 0.5 percent to 5.356 billion cubic meters but joint venture output was down nearly a percentage at 0.346 bcm.

The company said its Board has approved Field Development Plan of 140 square KM Madanam Field in north of Karaikal district of Tamil Nadu.

"The project envisages cumulative production of 1.048 million ton of oil by 2027-28 and 2.702 BCM of gas by 2032-33 at a total investment of USD 100.13 million," the statement said adding 15 wells will be drilled on the field in addition to existing 3 wells and associated facilities and pipelines installed as part of the project.

ONGC said during the quarter it made three oil and gas discoveries in Mumbai offshore, shallow waters of Krishna Godavari basin off the east cost and in Tripura.