New Delhi, July 26: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has decided to issue bonus shares in the ratio of 1:2 by capitalising its reserves. This works out to one bonus share each for every two held. The company had issued a 3:1 bonus in 1995, whereby three shares were granted for every one held.
The company has clocked a 24 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 4,119 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal against Rs 3,319 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.
ONGC had to shell out Rs 5,120 crore as its share of the subsidy burden on LPG and kerosene, up from Rs 2,876 crore in the year-ago quarter. The increased burden of subsidy sharing had a negative impact of Rs 3,102 crore on ONGC’s net in the quarter against Rs 1,748 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.
The compensation to downstream oil companies has been given mainly through discounts on crude purchases. As a result, ONGC could not reap the full benefit of rising crude prices.
ONGC’s turnover during the first quarter touched Rs 14,677 crore, up 34 per cent from Rs 10,954 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. The company has kept aside Rs 2,176 crore for tax.
The crude oil production of the company, a key indicator of performance, remained static at last year’s level of 6.48 million tonnes for the quarter. The company’s natural gas output went up 1.4 per cent to 5.782 billion cubic metres (bcm) from 5.704 bcm in the year-ago period.
Gas constitutes as much as 45 per cent of ONGC’s output vis-a-vis crude, but contributes only 13 per cent to the revenue of the company as it does not get the market price for most of its natural gas, which is sold to power plants and fertiliser units.
ONGC-Videsh (OVL) made several significant hydrocarbon forays in the first three months of this fiscal, including the entry into Latin America with a 15 per cent stake in BC-10 deepwater block, which has a potential output of around 100,000 barrels a day. The block is located 120 km southeast of Vitoria in Brazil
OVL also signed two production sharing contracts with Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) for blocks 127 and 128, situated in offshore Vietnam in the Phu Khanh Basin.
ONGC said its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals also reported impressive first-quarter results, achieving a 10.11 per cent increase in turnover at Rs 7,274 crore and recording a 68 per cent growth in export sales at Rs 2,797 crore.
