New Delhi, Nov. 14: State-owned explorer Oil India is scouting for shale gas assets abroad as it reported a 24.3 per cent rise in net profit in the second quarter.

“We are looking at Latin America, the US and Australia (for shale gas assets). But I do not want to go into specifics. Talks are at various stages,” chairman N.M. Borah said.

Net profit in July-September quarter rose 24.29 per cent to Rs 1,138.52 crore from Rs 916.03 crore in the same period a year ago, he said.

“Production in the second quarter was a record 0.991 million tonnes, up from 0.939 million tonnes a year ago…OIL may cross the magical number of 4 million tonnes this fiscal,” he said.

Profit rose despite OIL’s fuel subsidy outgo jumping to Rs 844.44 crore during the quarter from Rs 399.40 crore in the same period a year ago.

Upstream firms such as OIL, ONGC and GAIL (India) Ltd meet one-third of the revenues that fuel retailers lose on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates. This is done by giving discounts on crude oil it sells to refiners.

Oil marketing firms such as Indian Oil, which had hiked petrol prices by about Rs 1.80 a litre earlier this month, are under immense pressure to cut fuel prices.

Eveready net

Eveready Industries has reported a net profit of Rs 3.04 crore for the quarter ended September 30, down 77.56 per cent from Rs 13.55 crore in the year-ago period.

Net sales at Rs 255.93 crore fell 2.32 per cent from Rs 262.03 crore registered for the second quarter of last year.