ONGC posts 4% rise in Q1 net profit at Rs 6,143 crore, highest-ever since 2013; misses estimates

New Delhi: State-owned ONGC on Thursday reported its highest quarterly net profit in over four-and-a-half-years on sharp rise in prices for oil and gas it produced.

Its net profit of Rs 6,143.88 crore in the first quarter of the 2018-19 fiscal was 58.1 percent higher than Rs 3,884.73 crore in the year-ago period, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation said. Its net profit for first quarter of the previous year was Rs 5,915.2 crore.

The net profit is highest since December 2013 when earnings had hit Rs 7,126 crore.

The company’s revenues rose 14 percent at Rs 27,212 crore against Rs 23,970 crore on a quarter on quarter basis.

At the operating level, the company reported a jump of 29 percent in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation at Rs 14,695 crore against Rs 11,382 crore.

The operating margin has been reported at 54 percent against 47.4 percent QoQ.

ONGC realised $71.48 for every barrel of crude oil it produced in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, up 47.6% over $48.42 a barrel in the year-ago period. Its revenue from operations rose 42.7% to Rs 27,212.83 crore for the quarter under review.

The company has posted a crude price realisation at $ 71.48 per barrel, a rise of 47 percent year on year, while the crude oil output is seen at 5.03 million tonnes, down 5.3 percent year on year.

Analysts on average had expected ONGC to post a standalone profit of Rs. 6,643 crore, according to Thomson Reuters.

The government had raised prices of locally produced gas by about 6 percent for April-September to $3.06 per million British thermal units (mBtu) compared to $2.89/mBtu in the previous six months.

Revenue from offshore operations rose 38 percent to Rs. 18,066 crore in the quarter while total expenses went up 30 per cent to Rs. 18,256 crore.

-–With PTI inputs