State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today reported its highest profit in 17 quarters after net profit in three-months to March 31, 2018 jumped 37 per cent on back of higher oil prices.
Net profit in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 at Rs 5,915.12 crore, or Rs 4.61 a share, was higher than Rs 4,340.18 crore net in the same period of the previous fiscal, the company said in a statement.
The company realised USD 66.71 for every barrel of crude oil it produced from nominated fields, up from USD 54.91 a barrel it got in January-March 2017. Gas price realisation was also up 15.6 per cent at USD 2.89 per million British thermal unit.
ONGC's oil production declined 3 per cent at 6.2 million tonnes in the quarter.
For the full 2017-18 fiscal, net profit was up 11.4 per cent at Rs 19,945 crore.
Turnover in the fourth quarter rose 5 per cent to Rs 27,703.54 crore.
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The company made 12 oil and gas discoveries in the year, half of them were on land. Out of the six onland discoveries, two were monetised during the year itself, the statement said without giving details.
"In FY18, ONGC has registered an RRR in excess of 'one' for the 12th consecutive year. This reflects ONGC's strong exploratory record over the years," it said.
The discoveries were made in Krishna Godavari basin, Assam and Tripura.
The board of directors of ONGC recommended a final dividend of Rs 1.35 per share (27 per cent). This is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs 5.25 per share declared in two phases previously.