ONGC profits up by 11 pc, highest dividend paid

New Delhi, Sep 19: State run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today said it has posted the highest-ever net profit of Rs 14,431 crore which is 11 per cent higher from Rs 12,983 crore last year and paid the highest ever dividend of 450 per cent at Rs 6,417 crore.

The company also went for the highest-ever subsidy pay-out of Rs 11,956 crore (up 244 per cent from Rs 4,104 crore in FY05). The total pay-out of dividend in absolute terms works out to be Rs 6,417 crore (up 12.5 per cent from Rs 5,704 crore) out of this, the Government will get Rs 4,757 crore (74.14 per cent), ONGC, CMD, R S Sharma said at the upstream major's 13th AGM.

In pursuance of its ongoing business pursuits for value chain integration, ONGC will be implementing a global scale Petrochemicals complex comprising of 1.1 million tonnes per annum of Ethylene capacity dual feed cracker, along with associated units and polymer plants, to manufacture HDPE, LLDPE, PP and Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) at Dahej in Gujarat.

This Petrochemicals complex will be integrated with ONGC's own C2-C3 plant which is currently under execution (at Dahej) and Naphtha as feedstock from ONGC's own operational units at Hazira and Uran. The project is proposed to be implemented through a SPV route, with ONGC having management control, holding 26 per cent equity, implying an investment of Rs 992 crore, Mr Sharma said.

The ONGC Board approved the investment of Rs 950 crore for exploration and development of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in six blocks in Jharkhand and West Bengal. The projected schedule for production is June 2007. An estimated peak production of 7.84 lakh cubic metres of gas per day is being targeted from the proposed development wells.

ONGC recorded the highest-ever Gross Income (Turnover) of Rs 49,440 crore (up 4 per cent from Rs 47,245 crore in FY05).

sity-six per cent of the Turnover came from sale of Crude Oil, 14 per cent from sale of Natural Gas and 13 per cent from sale of Value-Added- products (VAPs) like LPG, NGL, ARN, Trading - 7 per cent. The Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in Gross Income in last five years is 20.6 per cent, he said.

At the AGM of the company held here the significant Agenda items approved by the shareholders relate to final approval of the earlier Board recommendations for Issuance of Bonus Shares in the ratio of one share each against two shares held and final dividend of 200 per cent (in addition to the interim dividend already paid at 250 per cent) for the fiscal year 2005-06.

The Bonus Shares, as recommended by its Board on 26th July 2006, will be issued by November 2006, by capitalisation of reserves. The post-bonus equity base of ONGC will stand at Rs 2,139 crore, Mr Sharma said.

The Company posted its highest-ever Earning-Per-Share (EPS) of Rs. 101.20 (up 11 per cent over Rs 91.05 in FY05) Capital Expenditure rose to Rs 11,421 crore (up 7 per cent from Rs 10,681 crore in FY05). Out of this, 99.7 per cent was spent on Exploration and Production (E&P). The shareholding by FIIs increased to 9.24 per cent in September 2006 (from 8.4 per cent in March 2006).

The contribution to exchequer was 23,409 crore (Rs 22,812 crore in FY05) ONGC has aggressively bid for 45 out of 55 blocks offered by the Government under NELP-VI for which bidding closed on 15th September 2006. Out of these 45 blocks (Deepwater-21, Shallowwater-5 and Onland-19), ONGC has bid as operator for 35 blocks.

Of the 109 blocks awarded under NELP-I to NELP-V, ONGC secured 59 blocks either on sole-risk basis or in consortium with other companies. ONGC is hopeful of winning substantial number of blocks under NELP-VI.

Crude Oil 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 onland fields were on target.

A Floating Production System (FPSO) has been put in place in May 2006 to augment production from BHN field to 270,000 bopd, as prevailing before the unfortunate loss of BHN platform The Natural Gas production was maintained at 22.57 billion cubic metres (bcm), same (level) as 22.97 bcm in FY05.

'' Displaying remarkable resilience and engineering excellence, ONGC's Hazira Plant proactively restored full gas-processing operations to its pre-shutdown level of 40 mmscmd on 8th September 2006, much ahead of schedule,'' Mr Sharma said.

This biggest gas processing plant of the country which supplies gas to the cross-country HVJ pipeline, was shutdown on 8th August 2006 due to unprecedented floods. Displaying resilience, ONGCians restarted the processing units, one after another. It restarted operations from 19th August 2006, restoring 6 mmscmd, 48 hours ahead of schedule.

ONGC scaled up to 402 position in Fortune Global 500 (from 454th last year) in terms of revenues, notwithstanding a large chunk of revenues going as subsidies to Oil Marketing Companies. It leads all Indian companies in the Fortune List (115th) in terms of profits.

UNI