The country's largest oil and gas company Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) saw its net profit jump 16% to Rs 5,703 crore for the second quarter (Q2) ended September 30, 2011, as higher earnings from oil refining and petrochemicals business helped it offset a dip in natural gas production.
Net profit of Rs 4,923 crore was registered in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, according to a release filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
According to the release, total income increased 37% to Rs 79,671 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, from Rs 58,151 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2011.
Its turnover rose to Rs 80,790 crore in Q2 of the current fiscal, as against Rs 59,962 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement.
RIL said its showpiece Krishna Godavari (KG) basin D6 gas fields have seen a sharp drop in production "mainly due to reservoir complexity".
KG-D6 fields output dropped 20% to 147.2 billion cubic feet or an average of just over 45 million standard cubic meters per day during the quarter.
The drop led to revenue from oil and gas exploration business fall 17.2% to Rs 3,563 crore and pre-tax segment profit by 10.2% to Rs 1,531 crore.
But this was more than made up by good performance by its twin adjacent refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat with a combined capacity of 1.24 million barrels a day.
RIL said it earned $10.1 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the quarter as compared to $7.9 per barrel gross refining margin (GRM) a year ago. Higher GRM helped the firm earn 40.3% higher pre-tax profit of Rs 3,075 crore.
The company's refining margins were better than Singapore average of $6.18 per barrel.
During the period, higher volumes and prices helped the firm's petrochemical business post a 10.2% rise in pre-tax profit to Rs 2,422 crore. Petrochemical revenues increased to Rs 21,100 crore from Rs 15,100 crore. Other income for the quarter saw a growth of 64% to Rs 1,102 crore from Rs 672 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Earning Per Share (EPS) was registered at Rs 17.4 per share from Rs 15.10 per share in the same quarter last year.
The company said that the input costs grew 48% to Rs 64,660 crore in the quarter from Rs 43, 570 crore in the previous year's September quarter.
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The outstanding debt of Reliance was accounted at Rs 71,399 crore as on September 30, 2011.
Mukesh Ambani, the world's ninth-richest person according to Forbes list, said that the company's balance sheet is very striong and that the the company has revised production contracts under the BP deal and have submitted it to the government.
On friday, the shares of the company ended 2.36% higher at Rs 866.90 on the BSE.