ONGC reports 31% drop in Q4 net profit on drop in production, prices

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Thursday reported a 31 per cent drop in its March quarter net profit as it faced a double whammy of a drop in production and fall in prices.

Net profit in January-March at Rs 4,045 crore was 31.6 per cent lower than net profit of Rs 5,915 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year, the company said in a statement. While oil production dropped 5 per cent to 4.8 million tonne, the price it realised for every barrel of crude oil sold was 3.6 per cent lower at $61.93.

Gas production, however, rose 8.2 per cent to 6.275 billion cubic metres. Also, gas price climbed 16.3 per cent to $3.36 per million British thermal unit. Revenue was up 11.6 per cent to Rs 26,759 crore in the fourth quarter of 2018-19 as compared to Rs 23,970 crore a year back.

ONGC board approved a final dividend of 15 per cent (Rs 0.75 per share). This is on top of interim dividends of 125 per cent (Rs 6.25 a share) declared previously for 2018-19 fiscal.

"The total dividend payout for FY'19 would be Rs 8,806 crore (excluding dividend distribution tax)," the statement said.

For the full fiscal 2018-19, net profit jumped 34 per cent to Rs 26,716 crore while revenue was up 29 per cent at Rs 109,655 crore.

ONGC said it made 13 discoveries in FY19. "Of the 13 discoveries, 8 discoveries were made in onland (Nomination-6, NELP-2) and 5 in offshore (Nomination-2, NELP- 3). Out of 13 discoveries, 5 discoveries were monetised during the year itself," it said.