State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has reported an 18 % fall in its second-quarter net profit due to lower oil prices.
The company's net profit stood at ₹ 9,848 crore in July-September -- the second quarter of 2025-26 financial year -- compared to ₹ 11,984 crore earnings in the same period a year back, ONGC said in a statement.
The fall in profit of India's biggest oil explorer was primarily a decline in crude oil prices -- from $ 78.33 per barrel in Q2 of FY25 to $ 67.34 in the current fiscal.
The crude oil that ONGC pumps from the ground and from beneath the seabed is sold to refineries, which process it into fuels like petrol and diesel.
Price of natural gas, which is used to generate electricity, produce fertilizer, power automobiles as CNG and used in household kitchens as cooking fuel, rose 3.8 % to $ 6.75 per million British thermal unit for legacy wells.
The rate for gas from new wells -- which receives a premium to offset additional costs -- dipped to $ 8.36 per mmBtu in Q2 from $ 9.42 per mmBtu last year.
"Gas from new wells is eligible for a 20 % premium over the domestic APM (legacy) gas price. ONGC is actively working to boost output from such wells. During the first half of 2025-26 fiscal (FY'26), revenue from new well gas stood at ₹ 3,352 crore, delivering an additional ₹ 651 crore revenue compared to the APM gas price," the statement said.
ONGC produced 4.63 million tonnes of crude oil in Q2, marginally higher than the 4.576 million tonnes output in July-September 2024. Its gas output was flat at 4.918 billion cubic meters.
In H1 (April-September), crude oil production rose to 9.314 million tonnes compared with 9.204 million tonnes in the year-ago period. Gas output was marginally lower at 9.763 bcm.
ONGC said net profit declined 14.6 % in April-September 2025 as oil prices fell 17.3 % to $ 66.74 per barrel.
Gross revenue in Q2 fell 2.5 per cent to ₹ 33,031 crore and by 6 % to ₹ 65,033 crore in H1.
The board of the company approved an interim dividend of 120 % -- ₹ 6 on each equity share of ₹ 5. The total payout on this account will be ₹ 7,548 crore.
"With persistent efforts towards increasing domestic production, ONGC has been able to achieve an increasing trend in crude oil production. The standalone crude oil production (excluding condensate) during Q2 FY'26 and H1 FY'26 was 4.630 million tonnes and 9.314 million tonnes, respectively, registering a growth of 1.2 % over corresponding periods of FY'25," the statement said.
On the gas production front, ONGC said it has been able to arrest the degrowth. "The decline, which was 0.35 % in Q1 FY'26 over Q1 FY'25 has been brought down to 0.04 % in Q2 FY'26 over Q2 FY'25".
ONGC said it has notified authorities of two new hydrocarbon discoveries during H1 in the western offshore.
"Pursuant to the declaration of the National Deepwater Exploration Mission - 'Samudra Manthan', ONGC is strategizing and mobilizing resources to align its deepwater exploration activities with the National Mission.
"ONGC's ultra-deepwater exploratory drilling campaign is progressing at full pace in the Andaman Offshore region, while seismic data acquisition activities are underway in the deepwater areas of both the East and West coasts," the statement added.
