Oil exploration shares gain; Aban Offshore up 9%

Jindal Drilling, Hindustan Oil Exploration, Oil India and ONGC were up 1% to 6% on BSE in intra-day trade.

Shares of oil exploration, equipment and services companies were trading higher on the bourses by up to 9% in otherwise subdued market on higher crude oil prices.

Aban Offshore surged 9% to Rs 238, while Jindal Drilling & Industries soared 6% to Rs 227 and Hindustan Oil Exploration by 5% to Rs 146 on BSE in intra-day trade. Oil India hit 52-week high of Rs 388, up 3% and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) up 1.5% on BSE. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.06% at 34,423 points at 11:14 AM.

Higher crude prices will result in higher realisation for these oil exploration companies and result in increased profitability for them.
 

Crude oil futures traded 0.85% higher at Rs 4,037 per barrel in futures market today as speculators raised bets, taking positive cues from global market, the PTI report suggested. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT.

Upstream companies like ONGC and Oil India are expected to post 50%+ profit growth in December quarter (Q3FY18). Rise in crude oil price and revived production volume growth for oil and gas would benefit ONGC and Oil India, according to analysts at Motilal Oswal Securities.

“We prefer ONGC, as cost efficiency would result in decline in opex, gas production is likely to grow 10-15% annually for the next five years, oil production is set to increase, it has no subsidy burden, and valuations are attractive,” the brokerage firm said in Q3FY18 results preview.

Analysts at Edelweiss Securities expect oil price to remain strong following robust OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) compliance.

“We believe, sustained uptick in oil will hinge on continuation of high OPEC compliance and growth rate of US shale output. We expect robust volume growth in city gas and strong domestic gas production. ONGC’s higher production will benefit from higher gas prices”, the brokerage firm said in Q3FY18 results preview.