Oil India net profit up 56% to ~7 bn

State-run Oil India has posted a 56 per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19 to ~7.03 billion, compared to ~4.5 billion during the same time last year.

The company's total income for the April-June quarter of the current financial year also increased 42 per cent from ~24.85 billion during the first quarter of 2017-18 to ~35.17 billion. The rise in net profit was mainly owing to a better crude realisation for the quarter increased by $23.59 a barrel to $72 a barrel during the first quarter of the current financial year, as against $48.41 a barrel. On the other hand, average natural gas price realisation during the first quarter was $3.06 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) as compared to $2.48 per mmBtu during the first quarter of 2017-18.

Crude Oil production for the quarter under review remained static at the last year's level on 0.844 million tonne (MT). However, natural gas production declined by 3.87 per cent to 696 million metric standard cubic meter (mmscm) as compared to 724 mmscm during the first quarter of 2017-18 due to short upliftment by certain consumers.

During the recently concluded ninth round of city gas distribution (CGD) bidding conducted by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, a consortium of Oil India, Assam Gas Company and GAIL Gas was allotted two geographical areas in Assam.