ENERGY-ONGC-LEAD RESULTS

Gurdip Singh

ONGC Q3 net up 23.38pc;to invest Rs 2,163cr in Mumbai offshore field

New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) Notwithstanding under-recoveries to the tune of Rs 3,497 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal,Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) today announced a net profit of Rs 3,054 crore in the quarter, up by 23.39 per cent over the same period previous year.In Q3FY09, the net profit figures stood at Rs 2,475 crore. Briefing newspersons on the financial results, ONGC CMD R S Sharma expressed the hope that the profit and other figures will meet the expectations of stock markets.Its total sales, including the sale of MRPL products, recorded a respectable 22.77 per cent growth with the Q3 figure standing at Rs 15,373 crore, up from Rs 12,521 crore.The earnings per share were Rs 14.28 in Q3FY10 as compared to Rs 11.57 in Q3FY09, which is an increase of 23.4 per cent.While the gross subsidy discounts was to the tune of Rs 3,497 crore in Q3FY10 as compared to Rs 4,899 crore in Q3FY09.The gross realisation of crude price was 76.66 dollars a barrel in Q3FY10 as compared to 58.87 dollars a barrel in Q3FY09, an increase of 30.2 per cent.After a subsidy discount of 18.97 dollars a barrel, the net realisation of crude oil stood at 57.69 dollars per barrel in the third quarter of this fiscal.The Board of Directors, which approved the financial results of the country's largest oil explorer this morning, also approved two investment proposals and an MoU with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).One of the projects entails an investment of Rs 2,163.65 crore for integrated development of D1 marginal field in Mumbai offshore.It is to be completed within 27 months from the date of award. Peak envisaged oil production from D1 field is expected to be about 36,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) during 2012-13, with an aggregate incremental oil production of 8.296 MMT over the base production profile.The second approval relates to acquisition of a new Multi Support Vessel (MSV) for Rs 723.64 crore.At present, the company has a fleet of four MSVs, out of these two MSVs are owned by ONGC and two MSVs are hired.The scheduled date of commissioning of this MSV is September 2012.The ONGC Board also approved the draft of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be entered with BPCL for wide ranging cooperation in gas and LNG business.