ONGC posts 11 per cent increase in net profit for 2005-06

New Delhi, Jun 26 (UNI) The country's oil and natural gas exploration major, ONGC today said that it has posted a 11 per cent increase in their net profits at Rs 14,431 crore for the financial year 2005-06 higher than the Rs 12,983 crore generated in the previous fiscal.

ONGC Chairman, R S Sharma said the increase in profits came through after the highest-ever subsidy pay-out of Rs 11,056 crore which was 191 per cent higher than the Rs 4,104 crore in the last fiscal.

The group turnover on gross basis adds up to Rs 74,312 crore, higher by 19 per cent against the previous year of Rs 62,224 crore.

The anticipated net profit of the group companies add up to Rs 15,398 crore, up by 5.9 per cent from the last years Rs 14,339 crore.

Mr Sharma said the impact of subsidy on net profit has been Rs 7,210 crore.

The net worth of the corporation was up 22 per cent from Rs 48,058 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 58,782 crore in 2005-06.

ONGC also achieved the highest-ever-earning per share (EPS) of Rs 101.20 an increase of 11 per cent at RS 91.05 crore in FY05.

Mr Sharma said capital expenditure rose to Rs 11,421 crore up by 7 per cent from Rs 10,681 crore in Fy05. He said out of this 99.7 per cent was spent on exploration and production (E and P).

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Sharma said that the crude production logged 24.4 million tonnes (MT) in FY06, down 8 per cent from 26.48 mt in FY06, mainly due to disruption of production from the BHN platform. ''The production from on land fileds were on target,'' he said.

He said natural gas production was maintained at 22.57 billion cubic metres (bcm) and its sales was 18.23 bcm compared to 18.52 bcm in FY 05.

While Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals ltd (MRPL), a ONGC group company posted a 37 per cent increase in its turnover at Rs 28,243 crore. However its profits went down by 58 per cent at Rs 372 crore from last year's profit of Rs 880 crore on account of oil marketing comapnies (OMCs) deciding to deviate from agreed Refinery Gate Price Formula and thereby forcing discounts on invoiced prices. ' Mr Sharma said the withdrawal of 'target plus' benefit scheme on exports during the current year also impacted the profits.

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