Oil India net profit up 23%

Oil India Ltd (OIL), the country’s second-largest state-owned explorer, has posted a 23 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended December 2009 on the back of higher price realisation due to a reduced subsidy outgo.

The company recorded a net profit of Rs 717.2 crore, compared to Rs 580.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

It received $58.7 per barrel for its crude oil production after paying a fuel subsidy of $15.1 per barrel in the quarter. The company’s realisation was $37.4 in the same quarter last year after accounting for a subsidy of $16.7 per barrel.

“Our fuel subsidy outgo has declined by 10.9 per cent to Rs 467 crore in the third quarter, against Rs 524 crore in the same quarter last year. Also, we have been helped by a higher growth in oil and gas production,” said N M Borah, chairman and managing director of the company, at a press conference to announce the company’s third-quarter results.

The company’s crude oil production rose by 3.7 per cent to 0.91 million tonnes in the three months ended December. Gas production was up 9 per cent to 0.6 billion cubic metre in the same period.

Bohra also informed that the company was seeking to acquire production and exploration assets abroad.