Q4 FY'24: Oil India posts highest-ever quarterly profit

New Delhi: State-owned Oil India Limited (OIL) on Monday reported its highest-ever quarterly net profit in three months to March 31, helped by higher oil production and better prices.

Standalone net profit of Rs 2,028.33 crore in January-March was 13.45 percent higher than the earnings in the same period of last year, the company, in a statement, said, adding this was "the highest ever (quarterly) profit after tax."

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On a consolidated basis, after taking into account earnings of Numaligarh Refineries Limited (NRL), its net profit was up 18 percent to Rs 2,332.94 crore in January-March -- the fourth quarter of 2023-24, according to a stock exchange filing by the nation's second-biggest state-owned oil and gas producer.

Oil production was up 6 percent year-on-year.

Higher oil prices led to a 16 percent rise in turnover to Rs 10,375.09 crore.

Earnings from crude oil produced and sold rose 18 percent but the same from gas dropped 16.5 percent on lower prices.

For the full 2023-24 fiscal (April 2023 to March 2024), its consolidated net profit fell 29 percent to Rs 6,980.45 crore. On a standalone basis, a net profit of Rs 5,551.85 crore for FY2023-24 was lower than Rs 6,810.40 crore of the previous year.

The fall in annual profit was "due to the provisions made for statutory compliances," OIL said in the statement.

For the full fiscal, crude oil production was up 5.7 percent to 3.17 million tonnes, while natural gas output rose 3.21 percent to reach a record 3.182 billion cubic metres.

"Further, the company drilled a record-breaking 61 wells during FY23-24, which surpassed all its previous records since inception," it said.

OIL said its board approved issuing a 1:2 bonus issue (one free share for every two held).

It also approved a final dividend of Rs 3.75 per equity share of Rs 10 each (pre-bonus), which translates into a final dividend of Rs 2.50 per share (post-bonus) for 2023-24.

The final dividend is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs 3.50 (pre-bonus) and the second interim dividend of Rs 8.50 (pre-bonus) paid for the fiscal.

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