Sarkaritel.com News and Features-Corporate News

ONGC net up 15% to Rs 5,692 cr in Q2

New Delhi, October 29, 2004

ONGC, the Most Valuable Indian Corporate has posted a record net profit of Rs.5692 crore in the first half of FY’05 after paying out Rs.1782 Crore as subsidy to IOC, BPC and HPC as instructed by the Government, and after absorbing all the other subsidies and pay-outs as per prevailing policies.

This reflects a 15% increase over the net profit of Rs.4960 Crore in FY’04 H 1, without adjusting for the subsidies paid out to IOC, BPC and HPC as instructed by the Government in 2003-04. On pro-rata adjustment of the subsidy pay-out in FY’04, the net profit for FY’04 H 1 would have been Rs.4169 Crore; against this, on like-to-like comparison, the net profit in FY’05 H 1 increased by 37%.

The net profit for the 2nd quarter ended September’04 is up by 20% at Rs.3384 crore as against the corresponding profit of Rs.2825 crore during the corresponding period of the last year. Here also, the upside would work out to 39% on like- to- like comparison after adjustment of subsidy payouts.

ONGC posted a turnover of Rs.22,290 Crore during H-1 this year, up 33% over Rs.16,712 Crore. Turnover for the 2nd quarter was Rs.11,903 Crore up 35% over Rs.8,785 Crore. While the profits have been predominantly boosted by the recent trend of international crude prices, the trading has contributed Rs.2497 Crore to the turnover.

Pricing of Natural Gas produced by ONGC remained controlled at the same level, and therefore, given the trend in prices of NG and RLNG in the domestic market, ONGC suffered higher under-recoveries.

The un-audited financial results for the 2nd quarter ending September 30, 2004, along with the half-yearly performance were taken on record by the Board today.

Operating performance

ONGC produced 13.27 million MT of crude oil against target of 13.29 MMT (99.8%) up 4% from 12.73 MMT in the corresponding period last fiscal. Offshore production continued to be constrained pending replacement of the sub-sea trunk pipeline to Uran; the project is targeted for completion in May 2005.

ONGC produced 11.61 billion cubic meters (BCM) of Natural Gas, against target of 11.22 BCM achieving 103.5%.

Gas Sales is also more than the target at 9.42 BCM against a target of 8.90 BCM achieving 115% of the target (9.66 BCM in corresponding period last fiscal).

ONGC produced 1758.37 Kilo-tonnes of Value-Added Products (VAP) against a target of 1533.38 Kilo-tonnes during April-September 2004 which is 114.7 per cent more of the target (1864.58 kilo-tonnes in corresponding period last fiscal).

Retaining top position

ONGC continued to be ranked highest in terms of market capitalization, retaining its position as the country’s Most Valued Company, public and private sector combined, for the half-yearly period. (Business Today listing November 7, 2004).

Green Company

ONGC has been declared as the greenest Company in India as per the recent Business Today-AC Nielsen ORG-MARG survey.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Subir Raha, Chairman & Managing Director, ONGC (also Chairman, ONGC Videsh and MRPL) said that investment in exploration has multiplied over the last five years, from Rs.1396 Crore in 2000-01 to Rs.3749 Crore in 2004-05 with proactive induction of state-of-the-art technology and skills. ONGC’s on-going campaign for on-shore and offshore seismic data acquisition and deep waters exploration are globally the biggest such efforts by a single operator

E-mail : newseditor@sarkaritel.com