Cairn India on Monday reported a 48 per cent jump in its third quarter net profit as it looks to begin a $600 million exploration campaign in Rajasthan, Sri Lanka and South Africa aimed at raising oil production. Its net profit for the quarter climbed to Rs 3,344.89 crore against Rs 2,322.18 crore in the year-ago period. The profit was boosted by foreign exchange gains of Rs 235.71 crore against a loss of Rs 785.81 crore in the preceding quarter.
The profit was up despite a fall in oil price realisation — the company got $96.2 for every barrel of crude oil produced in Q3 of the current fiscal (2012-13) compared to $101.2 a barrel in the same period last fiscal (2011-12). Its earnings per share rose by 39 per cent to Rs 16.50 from Rs 11.85 in the third quarter of financial year 2011-12. During the quarter, gross production rose 21 per cent to 205,114 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). Its flagship Rajasthan block produced an average of 169,977 barrel of oil per day, lower than the 175,000 bpd output the company had previously projected.
Cairn hopes to exit the fiscal with 175,000 bpd of production as it brings a smaller Aishwariya oilfield in the prolific Rajasthan block to production before the end of this quarter. Aishwariya, which will start with 2,000 bpd of output, is targeted to reach 10,000 bpd by June.
The profit was up despite a fall in oil price realisation — the company got $96.2 for every barrel of crude oil produced in Q3 of the current fiscal (2012-13) compared to $101.2 a barrel in the same period last fiscal (2011-12). Its earnings per share rose by 39 per cent to Rs 16.50 from Rs 11.85 in the third quarter of financial year 2011-12. During the quarter, gross production rose 21 per cent to 205,114 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). Its flagship Rajasthan block produced an average of 169,977 barrel of oil per day, lower than the 175,000 bpd output the company had previously projected.
Cairn hopes to exit the fiscal with 175,000 bpd of production as it brings a smaller Aishwariya oilfield in the prolific Rajasthan block to production before the end of this quarter. Aishwariya, which will start with 2,000 bpd of output, is targeted to reach 10,000 bpd by June.