ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has reported a 14.4 per cent increase in net profit in the first half of the financial year on higher crude oil and gas output.
OVL is unlisted and does not release quarterly earnings.
Profit in the April-September period rose to Rs 1,886 crore from Rs 1,649 crore, the company said in a statement.
OVL has 32 projects in 16 countries, of which 12 are in production, while hydrocarbon discoveries have been made in four. Of the remaining, 14 are in exploration stage and two are pipeline projects.
Crude oil production in H1 rose 19 per cent to 2.707 million tons while
gas output was up 16.34 per cent to 1.41 billion cubic meters.
Revenue climbed 22.5 per cent to Rs 10,060 crore during the six month period under review.
The company said production from assets in Syria continued to be affected due to the geo-political situation, including EU sanctions against that country.
Natural gas production from the A3 offshore block in Myanmar started in July and the field currently produces 4.6 million standard cubic meters of gas a day (mscmd).
"Production is expected to reach 5.67 mscmd in December 2013 and will reach peak level of 14.50 mscmd in Q1 of 2015," the statement said. OVL has a 17 per cent share in the fields.
The company is targeting 20 million tons of
oil and oil equivalent gas production from its overseas projects by 2018 and 60 million tons of oil and oil equivalent gas by 2030.
It had produced 7.26 million tons of oil and oil equivalent gas in 2012-13.
During the current financial year, OVL raised its stake in the producing BC-10 block in Brazil to 27 per cent from 15 per cent at a cost of USD 529 million.
It was awarded two onshore exploratory blocks - B-2 (Zebyutaung-Nandaw) and EP-3 (Thegon-Shwegu) in Myanmar.
Block B-2, with an area of 16,995 sq kms, is located in Northern Myanmar, bordering the state of Manipur in India, and Block EP-3, covering 1,650 sq kms, is located in Central Myanmar, the statement said.
OVL also won
exploratory blocks SS09 and SS04 in the Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round 2012.
Special 
