MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's biggest state-owned crude explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd reported a 64 percent decline in net profit for the December quarter, hurt by lower crude oil prices, missing analysts' estimates.
The company posted a standalone net profit of 12.86 billion rupees ($187.96 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 35.71 billion rupees in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts had estimated a net profit of 36.06 billion rupees for the three-month period.
The company said it took an impairment charge of 39.94 billion rupees during the quarter due to falling crude prices.
Net sales for the three-month period fell 2 percent to 183.97 billion rupees.
($1 = 68.4200 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)