OVL swings into black, logs Rs 701 cr net profit in FY17

ONGC Videsh Ltd today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 701 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, helped by a rise in oil and gas production.
OVL had posted a net loss of Rs 3,633 crore in the previous fiscal.
The company is unlisted overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and by law is not required to provide quarterly earning numbers.
Crude oil production from OVL's properties abroad rose 53 per cent to 8.434 million tonnes in 2016-17 from 5.51 million tonnes in the previous year. Natural gas output was up 28.27 per cent to 4.37 billion cubic meters, the company said In a statement.

Consolidated turnover was 2.15 per cent higher at Rs 10,080 crore in the 2016-17 fiscal.
"The incremental production is mainly due to acquisition of 26 per cent stake in Vankorneft project in Russia during the year," it said.

OVL completed acquisition of 15 per cent interest in Vankor field located in East Siberia on May 31, 2016 from Rosneft Oil Company and subsequently acquired additional 11 per cent interest on October 28, 2016.
Vankor is Russia's second largest field by production and accounts for 4 per cent of Russian production. The daily output from the field is around 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil (bopd) on an average and OVL's share of daily oil production from Vankor is about 104,000 bopd.

For the Vankor acquisition, OVL raised USD 1 billion through an overseas bonds issue for refinancing the bridge loan taken for buying the 15 per cent stake in JSC Vankorneft.
It also raised finances by way of bridge loan to acquire 11 per cent in Vankor in October 2016.
"The bridge loans have been replaced in April 2017 for which the company tied up USD 500 million and JPY 38 billion syndicated longer tenor facilities at competitive prices from international commercial banks," the statement added.