ONGC Q4 net drops 19% to Rs 3,086 cr

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has posted net profit of Rs 3,086 crore in the last quarter of 2005-06, lower by 18.74 per cent compared with the previous year's Rs 3,797.66 crore. The fall is on account of financial adjustments done to take care of financial liabilities.

For the full year, however, the net profit figure has witnessed an improvement at Rs 14,431 crore, which is up 11 per cent from Rs 12,983 crore in 2004-05.

The oil and gas major has declared a final dividend of 200 per cent (Rs 20 a share). The company had earlier declared an interim dividend of 250 per cent (Rs 25 a share).

The improvement in the full-year figures was an account of better crude and gas price realisation, better value added product pricing and better tax and treasury management, R S Sharma, acting chairman and managing director, said.

The previous financial year was a watershed year for the company, which registered its highest ever turnover of Rs 50,556 crore. "The company earned its highest ever net profit despite paying out the highest ever subsidy of Rs 11,956 crore. The subsidy payout in 2005-06 increased 191 per cent from Rs 4,104 crore in the previous year," Sharma said.

About the company's plans to acquire a stake in OAO Rosneft, company officials said a decision has not been taken on the same. "If we buy a stake it will be a strategic investment and not a portfolio investment," officials added.

OAO Rosneft, Russia's state oil company, plans to raise around $11.6 billion in an initial public offering. ONGC's capital expenditure rose by 11 per cent to Rs 11,421 crore in last fiscal compared with Rs 10,681 crore that it spent in 2004-05. The company spent close to 99.7 per cent of its capital expenditure on exploration and production.

It clocked 24.4 million tonne of crude oil production last fiscal, a dip of 8 per cent compared with 26.48 mt in 2004-05. "This was on account of disruption of production from the BHN platform," Sharma added.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, ONGC's overseas oil exploration subsidiary, posted a net profit of Rs 901 crore in 2005-06, an increase of 16 per cent over Rs 761 crore posted in 2004-05. The company clocked a turnover of Rs 8,171 crore last financial year, an increase of 36 per cent over Rs 6,026 crore of 2004-05.

In another development, India will receive its first crude oil from Russia's Sakhalin-I fields in the fourth quarter of 2006.

"We will ship the first oil from Sakhalin-I in the last quarter of 2006-07," managing director of OVL, R S Butola, told reporters. ONGC Videsh Ltd has 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-I oil and gas field and is likely to ship at least first two cargoes to Indian refiners.