State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Monday reported a 15 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit on higher exploration cost write-off.
Its net profit of Rs 8,938.10 crore in April-June – the first quarter of the current 2024-25 fiscal year – compared to Rs 10,526.78 crore earnings in the same period of last year, according to a stock exchange filing by the company.
The profit was also lower sequentially compared to Rs 9,869.37 crore in the January-March quarter.
India’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer wrote off Rs 1,669.73 crore cost incurred in the unsuccessful survey and drilling of wells to find oil and gas. This compared to Rs 1,015.81 crore in April-June 2023.
Its revenue from operations rose to Rs 35,266.38 crore in the first quarter from Rs 33,814.33 crore a year back.
The higher write-off negated gains from the oil price increase.
ONGC, in the June quarter, got USD 80.64 for every barrel of crude oil it produced and sold to refiners for turning into fuels like petrol and diesel as opposed to USD 70.64 per barrel gross realisation last year.
Oil production was almost flat at 4.629 million tonnes, the company said in a statement.
Natural gas output, however, fell 3.6 per cent to 4.86 billion cubic metres. Also, the price realised on gas dropped to USD 6.5 per million British thermal units from USD 6.71 in April-June 2023.
ONGC said it has made a total of five oil and gas discoveries so far in the current financial year. It, however, did not either give the reserve estimates or the potential production they could add.
(PTI)
