Soaring crude oil prices and consistent output from its Rajasthan oil fields helped Cairn India Ltd register a 10-fold jump in its net profit for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011.
The company on Wednesday said that the consolidated net profit in the fourth quarter of FY 2011 stood at Rs 2,457.79 crore, up from Rs 245.19 crore in the previous fiscal. The company's quarterly performance has also beaten analyst expectations.
Revenues during the fourth quarter rose to Rs 3,654.47 crore from Rs 692.83 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
The fiscal 2010-11 was the first full year of the consistent operations from Rajasthan oil fields. Cairn has realised $94.2 for every barrel of crude produced in the fourth quarter up from $71/ barrel in the corresponding quarter pervious year.
Mr Rahul Dhir, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Cairn India said, “Cairn India's continued focus on safe and efficient operations has helped us to quickly ramp up the Mangala production to 125,000 bpd and deliver almost 40 million barrels of crude oil to Indian refineries.”
According to Cairn, the average daily gross operated production in the fiscal 2011 was 149,103 barrels of oil equivalent. The average crude oil price realisation in the fiscal was $ 79.1/bbl and the average gas price was $4.55 per thousand cubic feet.
The company said it is currently producing 125,000 barrels per day. “Our enhanced understanding of the Mangala reservoirs (the biggest find in the block), following development drilling in the field, indicates a production potential of 150,000 bpd, subject to joint venture (partner ONGC) and Government approval,” Cairn said.
As regards the second largest find in the block, Bhagyam, the company said it is likely to be put into production in October. “We are now focused on the second phase of the Rajasthan development to reach the currently approved plateau production of 175,000 bpd, which will account for 20 per cent of the country's crude production,” Cairn said.