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ONGC energises quarterly profit by 12% to Rs 4,416 cr

In its 282nd Board Meeting held on Thursday, ONGC presented the annual results for 2015-16 fiscal while recommending a final dividend of 65%. The company had earlier declared interim dividend of 105% for the year, thus the total dividend for FY16 has been 170%. ONCG reported 12 per cent jump in the March quarter net profit as it reversed part of impairment losses. At Rs 4,416 crore, Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s net profit in the January-March quarter was 12.2 per cent higher than Rs 3,935 crore net profit in the same period of the previous fiscal, Chairman and Managing Director D K Sarraf told reporters here.

ONGC crude oil production recorded a rise for the second consecutive year. Offshore oil production has gone up by 2.1% rising from 16.19 mmt (FY15) to 16.54 mmt (FY16). ONGC crude oil production from nominated fields has gone up by 0.5%, from 22.26 mmt (FY15) to 22.36 mmt (FY16). ONGC’s total crude oil production including its share in PSC Joint Ventures (JVs) during FY16 has been 25.93 mmt against 25.94 mmt during FY15. ONGC has notified 17 hydrocarbon discoveries this year (8 new Prospects and 9 New Pools, 7 in NELP and 10 in nominated areas, Oil and Gas: 7 and Gas and Condensate: 10, Onshore: 7 and Offshore: 10). 

The estimated accretion to in-place Hydrocarbons from ONGC operated areas in India during 2015-16 was 150.30 MMToe, while accretion to ultimate 2P reserves was 65.58 MMToe. Reserve Replacement Ratio (RRR), the ratio of reserve accretion to total oil and gas production in one year, stands at 1:51. ONGC, thus, maintains RRR at more than one for last 10 years (2P). 

Considering the global trends, this is significant. ONGC Videsh has participation in 36 projects in 17 countries including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh,Brazil,Colombia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Zealand, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam. Out of these 36 projects, 13 are producing, 4 are discovered/under development, 17 are exploratory and remaining 2 are pipeline projects. ONGC was exempted by the government from payment of any fuel subsidy last year, leading to the profit boost. Sarraf said the company got $34.88 on every barrel of crude oil it sold in the January-March quarter of 2015-16 fiscal as against $55.63 a barrel in the year ago period. The reduction in oil price realised meant that its turnover fell by 24.3 per cent to Rs 16,424 crore in Q4.

For the full 2015-16, ONGC posted a net profit of Rs 16,004 crore on a turnover of Rs 78,569 crore against Rs 17,733 crore net profit in 2014-15 on a turnover of Rs 83,094 crore. It also tool an impairment of about Rs 3,000 crore on reserves of its overseas subsidiary, OVL. With the slump in oil prices, government exempted ONGC from paying any subsidy in the second half of 2015-16 fiscal. 

Total subsidy payout in 2015-16 at Rs 1,096 crore compared with Rs 36,300 crore payout in the 
previous fiscal. But for the subsidy payout, the net profit would have been higher by Rs 607 crore in April 2015 to March 2016 fiscal. During 2015-16, ONGC’s own fields produced 22.36 million tons of oil, marginally higher than 22.26 million tons in the previous year. “In 2014-15, we reversed the declining trend in oil production and in 2015-16 we actually saw it rise marginally. But for the efforts put by ONGC team, the output should have declined by 6-7 per cent going by the natural course taken by old and ageing fields,” Sarraf said.

Together with output from joint venture fields, ONGC’s oil production was flat at 25.93 million tons. Natural gas production however fell 3.8 per cent to 21.18 billion cubic meters from the company’s own fields; together with joint venture fields, it was down 4.2 per cent to 22.53 bcm. Sarraf said ONGC Videsh Ltd produced 5.51 million tons of crude oil in 2015-16, almost unchanged over 5.53 million tons of the previous year. 
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