New Delhi: State-owned Oil India Ltd today reported 96 per cent drop in its March quarter net profit after it brought on books the additional royalties paid to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Net profit in the January-March quarter of last fiscal was Rs 19.31 crore (Rs 0.25 per share), 96 per cent lower than Rs 470.13 crore (Rs 5.88 a share) in the same period of 2015- 16, OIL Chairman and Managing Director Utpal Bora told reporters here.
"The profit was down because of two counts - one Rs 1,152 crore of royalty payments to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh following court directives were accounted in the quarter. And secondly, reduction in natural gas price reduced our revenues," he said. But for the royalty payment, OIL net profit should have been Rs 751.14 crore, he said.
"The profits dipped despite clocking highest ever gas production of 2.93 billion cubic meters," Bora said, adding that crude oil production rose 1 per cent and gas 3.5 per cent. Turnover rose to Rs 3,308.98 crore in the fourth quarter of 2016-17, from Rs 2,445.01 crore in the same quarter of previous fiscal.
OIL got USD 52.50 for every barrel of crude oil it produced, up from USD 32.46 a barrel in the fourth quarter of 2015-16. For the full 20160-17 fiscal, OIL reported a net profit of Rs 1,548.68 crore, down 32 per cent from Rs 2,301.67 crore of previous financial year.
Net profit should have been Rs 2,379 crore if the royalty expense hadn't been accounted, Bora said. The company will invest Rs 4,290 crore in current fiscal as against a capex of Rs 4,336 crore in the previous year.
