ONGC Q3 net vaults 65% to Rs8,263 crore, proposes Rs5.25 dividend
15 Feb 2019
State-run oil producer Oil and natural Gas Corporation has reported a net profit of Rs8,263 crore for the third quarter of the current financial year, which is a 64.77 per cent increase from the Rs5,014.67 crore net profit posted in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
Revenue of the October-December 2018-19 quarter increased by 20.43 per cent year-on-year to Rs27,694.09 crore while other income jumped 88.68 per cent to Rs2,224.62 crore during the quarter.
The board of directors of the company also proposed to pay an interim dividend of Rs5.25 per equity share.
The board, on 14 December last year, approved a proposal for buyback of shares, not exceeding 25,29,55,974 equity shares, at Rs159 per equity share, payable in cash for an aggregate consideration not exceeding Rs4,022 crore. The process of buyback is likely to be completed in February 2019, ONGC said in a BSE filing.
ONGC said its offshore revenue increased to Rs18,955.86 crore in Q3FY19 from Rs15,920.99 crore in Q3FY18 while onshore revenue climbed to Rs8,738 crore from Rs7,074.89 crore during the same period.
Revenue from operations climbed over 20 per cent to Rs27,694 crore, while revenue from offshore operations rose 19.1 per cent, ONGC said.
Meanwhile, reports said the government is likely to raise the price of domestically produced natural gas by over 10 per cent to over $3.72 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) with effect from 1 April, in a boost to firms like ONGC and Reliance Industries.
The price of gas produced from difficult fields will rise to about $9 per mmBtu from current $7.67, they said.
This will be the fourth straight increase in gas prices.
Natural gas prices are set every six months - on April 1 and October 1 every year - based on average rates in gas-surplus nations like the US, Russia and Canada.
The rate is calculated by taking a weighted average price at Henry Hub of the US, National Balancing Point of the UK, rates in Alberta (Canada) and Russia with a lag of one quarter.
The price hike is expected to boost revenues of ONGC, by an additional Rs4,000 crore on an annual basis. ONGC is the country's biggest gas producer, accounting for two-thirds of the over 70 million standard cubic meters per day current output.
The hike will lead to a rise in price of CNG, which uses natural gas as input and increase the cost of natural gas piped to households (PNG) for cooking purposes as well as of feedstock cost for manufacturing of fertilisers and petrochemicals.