Vedanta posts higher oil, zinc output in FY14

Company reported a 6% increase in average daily oil and gas production

Diversified conglomerate Vedanta Resources on Thursday reported higher production of oil and gas, refined zinc and aluminium in 2013-14 but said output of copper, iron ore and power businesses declined.

The London-listed, India-focused company reported a six per cent increase in average daily oil and gas production at 2,18,651 barrels in the previous financial year, primarily due to a seven per cent rise in output at the Rajasthan oil field, it said.

“The Rajasthan block achieved a landmark oil production of 200 million barrels and a 200,000 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day) production milestone in March 2014,” it said, adding average daily output at the block in the last quarter rose 13 per cent to 1,90,881 barrels.

Output of refined zinc rose 11 per cent to 749,000 tonnes, while mined metal zinc content rose one per cent.

Production of mined metal content was lower than planned initially "due to slower-than-expected ramp-up of underground mining projects and changes in mining sequence, wherein preference was given to primary mine development.

Copper production declined 18 per cent to 177,000 tonnes amid the temporary closure of its Tuticorin smelter in April-June and suspension of operations at its Australian mine, Vedanta said.

"Production at our Australian (copper) mine remained suspended due to a mud rush at one of the stopes in January 2014. We are working with Work Place Standards Authorities at Tasmania to resume operations," it added.

The company, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, will shut the Tuticorin smelter, which achieved 98% capacity utilisation, in the current quarter for 22 days for maintenance, it said.

Output of iron ore fell 60% to 1.5 million tonnes as operations remained shut for most of the year. The company restarted iron ore production in Karnataka on December 28 and produced 1.5 million tonnes of ore in three months.

However, the Goa operations remain closed due to the apex court-imposed mining ban. The company expects the ban to be lifted soon and hopes to resume production after the monsoon, S L Bajaj, CFO (iron ore Business), said on a conference call.

The Lanjigarh refinery in Odisha, which remained in controversy for most of the year over sourcing of bauxite from nearby Niyamgiri hills, operated at 91% capacity and produced 5.24 lakh tonnes of alumina, the company said.