ONGC reports highest net profit of ₹40,306 crore
The Hindu
ONGC becomes India's second most profitable company behind Reliance Industries Ltd
On the back of the best-ever price it earned on crude oil it produces, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) reported a record net profit of ₹40,305 crore in the fiscal year ended March 31, becoming India's second most profitable company behind Reliance Industries Ltd.
In a statement, ONGC said net profit for the fiscal FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022) soared 258% to ₹40,305.74 crore from ₹11,246.44 crore in the previous financial year.
This as it got an average of $76.62 for every barrel of crude oil produced and sold in the fiscal as against $42.78 per barrel net realisation in the previous year.
This is the best ever price that ONGC got as international oil prices surged from late 2021 and spiked to a near 14-year high of $139 per barrel after Russia invaded Ukraine. International rates had spiked to a record $147 per barrel in 2008 but ONGC's net realisation at that time was much lower as it had to provide subsidies to fuel retailers so that they could sell petrol, diesel, cooking gas LPG and kerosene at rates lower than cost.
ONGC now gets international rates as the downstream fuel retailers too price petrol, diesel, and other petroleum products at global rates.
The firm got $2.35 per million British thermal unit for the gas it sold as against $2.09 in the previous FY21 fiscal. The gas price jumped to $6.1 in April this year and this impact will be visible in the first-quarter earnings.
Consolidated net profit, after including those earned by its subsidiaries like HPCL, MRPL and ONGC Videsh Ltd, soared to ₹49,294.06 crore in 2021-22 as compared to ₹21,360.25 crore in 2020-21.