Public sector undertaking Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has reported a net profit of ₹1,749 crore for financial year 2016-2017. Comparably, OVL reported a net loss of ₹3,894 crore for fiscal 2015-2016. The turnaround is attributed to the firmed up crude oil prices and the acquisition of producing assets in Russia’s Vankor field.

In an official statement, OVL said, “Consolidated production of crude oil and oil equivalent gas during the financial year 2017 was higher by 44 per cent as compared to previous year. The incremental production is mainly due to acquisition of 26 per cent stake in Vankorneft project in Russia during the year.”

The board also proposed a final dividend of ₹ 1.40 per share for the fiscal to be paid on fully paid equity share of par value of ₹100 each.

OVL’s crude oil production grew by 1.26 per cent in the fiscal 2017 to 2.651 million tonne (mt). This stood at 2.618 mt in fiscal 2016. Natural gas production fell by 7.74 per cent to 3.004 Billion Cubic Metres (bcm) in fiscal 2017. This stood at 3.256 bcm in fiscal 2016.

During the fiscal 2017, ONGC Videsh completed acquisition of 15 per cent interest in Vankor Field located in East Siberia of the Russian Federation on May 31 from Rosneft Oil Company and subsequently acquired additional 11 per cent interest on October 28.

ONGC Videsh and Petroleos De Venezuela through their relevant subsidiaries also signed two definitive agreements for facilitating redevelopment of the San Cristobal joint venture project in Venezuela on November 4.

The remediation plan aims to increase the current level of production by about 40 per cent. The agreement also provides for mechanism to liquidate ONGC Videsh’s outstanding dividends from the project and ONGC Videsh to obtain long term finance for the capital investment for implementing the redevelopment plan.

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