ONGC is one of the top three gainers on the BSE today morning, reacting positively to the commencement of oil production to a new block rather than focus on the dull Q1FY25 performance. The stock price is in the green; from its close of Rs.306.20, it opened at Rs.312 and rose to an intraday high at Rs.329.50.

The PSU, for the first quarter reported a 32% (YoY) and down 2% (QoQ) drop in consolidated net profit at Rs.9936 crore. This was on a 2% rise in total revenue at Rs.1,66,577 crore.

The company wrote off Rs.1,679.28 crore, up 46% (YoY) as cost incurred in the unsuccessful survey and drilling of wells to find oil and gas.

The oil and gas exploration giant’s total crude production was down by 1.4% at  5.23 million metric tonnes (mmt) in the quarter. Natural gas production declined 4% to 5 billion cubic metres (bcm).

The company declared a total of 5 discoveries in FY25 so far. Of these, two are prospects, and one is a new pool (onland) discovery. 

ONGC contributes around 71% of India’s domestic production while its wholly-owned subsidiary ONGC Videsh is the largest Indian MNC with 35 oil & gas assets across 15 countries.  

What the market truly focussed on was its announcement that it has commenced oil production from the Block KG-DWN-98/2 Cluster-2 asset via a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in January, 2024. The company has plans to open another well and flow gas to onshore terminal next month through the newly laid subsea gas pipeline.

Last month, ONGC had started production from the Coal Bed Methane (CBM) block in Bokaro, Jharkhand.