Government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Monday said its net profit fell 15 per cent in the June quarter of the current financial year. The company said that its profit has declined due to write-off of higher exploration costs. ONGC told the stock market that its net profit stood at Rs 8,938.10 crore in the April-June quarter of the current financial year (2024-25), as against Rs 10,526.78 crore in the same period last year. The profit was also lower than the previous quarter January-March of Rs 9,869.37 crore.

Write off Rs 1,669.73 crore

ONGC wrote off Rs 1,669.73 crore spent on surveys and digging wells for oil and gas exploration as these efforts were unsuccessful. In comparison, this figure was Rs 1,015.81 crore in April-June 2023. Operating income in the quarter under review increased to Rs 35,266.38 crore from Rs 33,814.33 crore a year ago. The higher write-off affected the company’s profit from rising oil prices. ONGC got $80.64 per barrel on crude oil production in the June quarter, as against $70.64 per barrel in the same period last year.

Five oil and gas bases discovered

The company said in a statement that its oil production remained almost stable at 46.29 lakh tonnes. However, natural gas production declined by 3.6 per cent to 4.86 billion cubic metres. ONGC said it has discovered a total of five oil and gas bases so far in the current financial year, though the company neither gave a reserve estimate nor informed about potential production.