ONGC first-quarter profit misses estimates

(Reuters) - India's top explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Thursday posted a lower-than-expected first-quarter standalone profit, hurt by higher expenses.

Profit http://bit.ly/2O1aRHp on a standalone basis, which takes into account only the state-run multinational's India operations, rose 58 percent to 61.44 billion rupees ($894.26 million) for the quarter ended June 30, helped by higher domestic gas prices.

Analysts on average had expected ONGC to post a standalone profit of 66.43 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

India had raised prices of its locally produced gas by about 6 percent for April-September to $3.06 per million British thermal units (mBtu) compared to $2.89/mBtu in the previous six months.

Revenue from offshore operations rose 38 percent to 180.66 billion rupees in the quarter while total expenses went up 30 percent to 182.56 billion rupees.

($1 = 68.7050 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair and Vyas Mohan)