Shan’s Blog

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the country’s largest company by market value, today posted a 20.07 per cent jump in net profit for the third quarter this fiscal on higher sales of crude oil.

Net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 stood at Rs 4,668.31 crore compared to Rs 3,887.76 crore in the year-ago period, ONGC said in a statement.

Total income rose by 24.78 per cent at Rs 16,269.01 crore in the quarter as against Rs 13,038.01 crore recorded in the corresponding period of 2005-06.

The company produced 7.12 million metric tonne (MMT) of crude oil, up 11.7 per cent from 6.37 MMT during the same period of last financial year.

Natural gas production in October-December 2006 stood at 6.36 billion cubic metres (BCM) as against 6.30 BCM last year.

For the nine-month period ending December 2006, net profit stood at Rs 12,961 crore, up 14 per cent from Rs 11,354 crore during the corresponding period of last year.

The company’s production of value added products during the period, however, fell to 2,394 kilo tonnes, compared to 2,556 KT during the corresponding period of last year.

The subsidy burden during the nine-month period amounts to Rs 12,356 crore as compared to Rs 8,550 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

ONGC said its joint venture ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd is in an advanced stage of signing a farm-out agreement for an exploration block in Turkmenistan.

OMEL has also bid for an offshore block in Trinidad and Tobago and is also scouting for various opportunities in other various countries.