New Delhi: Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India’s biggest energy explorer, had a 48 per cent increase in first-quarter profit after the rupee value of crude sales rose.

Net income climbed to Rs60.8 billion rupees (Dh4.04 billion), or 7.10 rupees a share, in the three months ended June 30, from 40.95 billion rupees (Dh2.72 billion), or 4.79 rupees, a year earlier, the New Delhi-based state-owned company said in a stock exchange filing today. The median estimate of 32 analysts compiled by Bloomberg was a profit of 54.4 billion rupees. Net sales rose 24 per cent to 200.8 billion rupees.

The rupee’s decline in the quarter countered falling crude prices for ONGC, which bills customers in US dollars and increases earnings after conversion into the local currency. The explorer plans to spend 1.25 trillion rupees to boost oil and natural gas output in the next five years.

“This quarter, the lower rupee boosted their profit,” Sujit Lodha, a Mumbai-based analyst at Asian Market Securities Pvt., said before the earnings announcement. “ONGC also has to find more reserves and increase production. That’s where growth is going to come from.”

ONGC has gained 8.7 percent this year compared with a 14 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index and briefly became India’s biggest company by market value last month. The stock fell 0.3 percent to 278.95 rupees yesterday, giving it a market value of $43 billion, the third highest among the nation’s publicly traded companies.


Discoveries


The explorer made four discoveries in the last one month, it said in a statement today.

ONGC is mandated by the government to give discounts on oil supplies to state-run refiners to partly compensate them for selling fuels below cost. It needs to sell crude for at least $55 a barrel to fund capital expenditure, Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva said July 25.

The company said it sold crude oil at $46.62 a barrel in the quarter, compared with $48.74 a barrel a year earlier. Discounts given to refiners were 123.5 billion rupees, compared with 120.5 billion rupees a year earlier, according to a statement.

Brent crude, a benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, averaged $108.76 a barrel in the quarter, 7 per cent lower than a year earlier. The rupee declined 8.6 percent against the US dollar in the period, the worst performer among major currencies in Asia Pacific.

The explorer may spend an additional $1 billion to acquire shale assets in the US. It plans to focus on shale and deepwater areas to double production and triple profit by 2030, Chairman Vasudeva said May 29.

The rupee declined 8.6 per cent against the US dollar in the period, the worst performer among major currencies in Asia Pacific.