Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Kanshina, moderator for the conference call. Welcome to ONGC 's earnings conference call, as per 30th June 2025. We have a few minutes to debate on concepts. Director Finance, ONGC, and field over interactive investors and analysts will discuss Q1 earnings. As a reminder, all participants will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator, their preference, star, and then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand over the floor to Vivek from Conference for a spoken remark. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Yes. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Vivek Tongaonkar, Director of Finance for ONGC , and I welcome you all in this ONGC's earnings call for Q1 financial year 2026. Thank you all for joining us on this call. I'm joined over here by my colleagues from ONGC, Ajay Kumar Singh, who is Chief of Corporate Planning; Mr. Yogesh Naik, who is our Chief of Corporate Finance; Akhilesh Tiwari, who is our Head of Corporate Accounts; Prakash Joshi, and Anand Kukreti from our Investor Relations Sale. We also have Mukul Bhatnagar and Basant Patari from ONGC Videsh Limited. ONGC has compiled its financial results for the quarter ended 30th June 2025, which have been reviewed by the statutory auditors. The financial results have already been released on the 12th of August 2025 through a press note and sent to the stock exchanges.
This has also been sent to the analysts who are there on our mailing list. A brief synopsis of the results follows. The company has earned a net profit after tax of INR 8,024 crore during quarter one, financial year 2026, as against INR 8,938 crore during Q1 FY 2025. It's a decrease of INR 914 crore, about 10.2% decrease. This decrease in net profit during Q1 2026 is mainly on account of lower crude oil price realizations. The crude oil price realization was INR 66.13 per bbl in this current quarter, against INR 83.05 per bbl in Q1 FY 2025. Accordingly, the sales revenue in Q1 2026 has decreased on account of lower revenue from crude oil.
The decrease is about INR 4,047 crore, and value-added product also is lesser by INR 4,409 crore, which has been set off by an increase in natural gas revenue by INR 1,083 crore, as against those corresponding quarters of the previous year. The increase in natural gas revenue is due to an increase in the ceiling price for nomination gas from INR 6.5 per MMBtu to INR 6.75 per MMBtu, and additional revenue from New Well Gas sales. The incremental revenue from New Well Gas during Q1 FY 2026 is approximately INR 333 crore. During Q1 FY 2026, the expenditure on account of statutory levies was INR 6,073 crore as compared to INR 9,772 crore for Q1 FY 2025. This is a decrease of INR 3,699 crore, about 37.9% or 38% decrease. This is mainly attributable to the abolishment of SAED on crude oil, which was effective from 2nd of December 2024.
This SAED amount was about INR 2.9 crore in Q1 FY 2025. There is also a decrease in average selling price of crude oil from INR 51,068 per metric ton in Q1 FY 2025 to INR 42,593 per metric ton in Q1 FY 2026. In Q1 FY 2026, operating expenses stood at INR 5,577 crore, against INR 5,182 crore in Q1 FY 2025. There was an increase in contractual payment by INR 313 crore. These were driven primarily by higher FPSO full-day rate charges, which was about INR 191 crore at KG 98/2. Also, raw material consumption costs increased by INR 265 crore on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and this was due to the increase in LNG consumption costs, mainly at Dahej C2-C3 plant, which was amounting to INR 244 crore.
The depletion, depreciation, and impairment costs for Q1 FY 2026 stood at INR 6,531 crore, against INR 5,897 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. This was an increase of INR 634 crore. This increase was mainly due to depletion expenditure of INR 211 crore. Out of this INR 211 crore, INR 174 crore depletion expenditure was at KG 98/2. This was due to the cumulative impact of the increase in carrying value of ONGC oil and gas assets. The increase in depreciation by INR 393 crore was mainly at vessel offshore. There was also due to the addition of INR 259 crore of ROU assets, which was related to hiring of additional vessels at offshore.
At the consolidated level, the company has earned a higher net profit, a profit after tax of INR 11,552 crore during the first quarter of FY 2026, as against INR 9,776 crore during the first quarter of FY 2025. This is an increase of INR 1,778 crore, about 18.2% increase, and this increase has been primarily additionally due to the cause of HVCR. During this quarter, we have increased our crude oil production. ONGC successfully reversed the crude oil production decline in Q4 FY 2024 and continues to increase production on a quarter-on-quarter basis for the past four to five quarters. The standalone crude oil production during Q1 FY 2026 was 4.683 illion metric ton, with an increase of 1.2% over Q1 FY 2025. Standalone natural gas production was almost flat at 4.846 BCM in Q1 FY 2026, as against 4.863 BCM in Q1 FY 2025. ONGC has also declared two discoveries during FY 2025, Q1 FY 2026, in ex-operated equities.
Out of these discoveries, Vajramani is a prospect discovery in Mumbai Offshore, and Suryamani is a pool discovery at Mukta Formation in Western Offshore. Gas from New Well continues to be a key contributor with revenue from New Well Gas reaching INR 1,703 crore in Q1 FY 2026. This has delivered an additional INR 333 crore as compared to the APM gas price, as the gas from these new wells is eligible for a 20% premium over the domestic APM gas price. The price for New Well Gas was INR 8.26 MMBtu, and for nomination gas was INR 6.64 MMBtu. ONGC is actively working to boost output of its New Well Gas.
Now, with the TSP Technical Service Provider already in place for the MH field, a more sharper focus on deep water and ultradeep exploration, expediting monetization of new hydrocarbon discoveries, expanding the enhanced oil recovery initiative, and commencing additional production from upcoming projects currently at various stages of development, I am confident that these efforts will help offset the decline in production from basing us in a stronger position in the coming quarter. With this, I finish my briefing for the first quarter results for financial year 2025–2026. We'll be happy to field any questions from you, and we would request you to kindly restrict your queries on financial results only. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question- and- answer session. If you have a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad and wait for your turn to ask questions. If you would like to withdraw your ticket, you may do so by pressing star and one again. The first question comes from Probal Sen, from ICICI Securities . Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I have a couple of questions. Firstly, as far as the production concerned, you just mentioned that the crude production has sort of stabilized and is starting to increase. What is the exact production level from the KG asset at this point of time, and what is the exited guidance as of now for the KG asset?
KG asset, you are so currently from KG? Yeah, from KG asset, we are producing 30,000+ bbl of oil per day, and the gas is about 3 mmscmd. For the...
Yeah, I mean on those.
As far as the projections are concerned, we are expecting that the production should ramp up from January-February onward. We are talking only about the KG Basin as of now. The gas also should move up to 6 to 7 mmscmd.
By FY 2026, we should ideally exit at maybe slightly higher oil and 6 mmscmd- 7 mmscmd of gas also. Is that a fair way to look at it?
Yes.
Okay. The second question was about, sir, with respect to the TSP, the technical service that you just mentioned, any progress you can share or any granularity in terms of timelines of when we can start to see some of the incremental production, which was sort of...
Yes. Already, the teams are in place. As we had mentioned, from April onwards, all the teams, both from DPK as well as from ONGC, have started working together. The work has started. They have started looking at the various data that is available for MH field. We do expect that something tangible should start coming up from the fourth quarter of this year, from January 2026 onwards.
Fourth quarter, this year we should start to see the results.
Yes.
Last question, if I may, sir, with respect to OPaL and for sharing some additional data that we've got about information, I just wanted your sense of what impact a higher amount of lithium would have in terms of our input cost, the arrangement that we are looking to do to come up with a minimum CC and improve lithium directly. What kind of impact do we see on our profitability? What is the impact on the consuming of lithium in the larger year for this plant?
Basically, that lithium usage will start from 2028 onwards only. Currently, we are using LNG for that extraction of P2CP quartiles. However, once the contract with Qatar gets over in 2028, we are looking at de-risking this project by tying up our lithium supplies. The best way to do this thing is ensuring that the supply is steady, for which we are planning to have our own ships for transportation of lithium.
It's cheaper also.
This comes out to be cheaper because most of the lithium is normally available from the U.S., which is linked to Henry Hub. We do believe that the landed cost over here should come out to be cheaper than what we have today.
How much of lithium requirements will be brought on its own capacity for a plant?
It would be 600 kilotons per annum, that is kilotons per annum.
600 KPP. Just one last follow-up. Do we expect to face EBITDA breakeven in this year? Are we dividing the target to 40 or 40?
We have EBITDA first quarter, it will be EBITDA positive. We are hopeful with the measures that we have taken, and now that the plant is also running more than 90% asset-based, we should end the year with a good profit.
Great. Thank you so much for answering the questions. I'll come back again.
Thank you. The next question comes from Amit Kukreja from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. It's just on the production volume. The marginal uptake includes the volume as you highlighted. Which field will it have come from? Also, on DCs, as far as you said, the veneers are working on it. If you could just give some guidance on volume uptake on that.ami
As far as if any particular production there has been an uptake, no. It has been general all across. There have been different areas in which we have got marginal increases in crude oil production as such. We are expecting, as I've already mentioned, that from KG Basin, we should have a much further increase from January-February onwards for both crude as well as gas. As far as TSP is concerned, the work has been initially started now. The initial work would be more to do with interpretations, going through the data, and then suggesting what actually what actions need to be taken, which would take some time for the actions to be completed. However, we do expect that we should see some impact upon production from the fourth quarter of this year. As of now, there is nothing concrete on the ground as far as to report.
Yes, things are moving in the right direction. That's why we are hopeful that on the fourth quarter of this year, we should have some results or benefits of TSP visible.
Okay. The Daman project is on track for Q4? I think you shouldn't have it.
It is on track, very much on track. We do expect that this coming year, fourth quarter, we should have a production coming out of.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you. I request the participants to rotate the floor present in the initial round and join the Q&A for more questions. The next question comes from Vivekanand from Ambit Capital Pvt Ltd . Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. One is on the KG- D5 peak production guidance. You had earlier said you will release 45,000 barrels per day crude oil production and gas 10 mmscmd. Would you be willing to share an update on the timelines when you reach the production in KG- D5? That is question one. Secondly, could you refresh us with your guidance for FY 2026 and FY 2027 hydrocarbon outputs, both oil and gas separately if you can? Thank you so much.
Yeah. As I mentioned, for KG 98/2, our guidance would be for the fourth quarter of this year. We should move ahead beyond 30,000, what we are producing just now. We were to have this earlier on during this quarter itself. However, because there was a vessel not being available for that installation of the living quarter, this got delayed. Due to monsoon setting in, it was not possible to do the work. It will now get shifted to winter, which is happening sometime in November, December. That's why by January, February, we should have this production coming out. Gas also, we have said that 10 mmscmd should come up from now, the fourth quarter onwards, starting off 6 to 7, and then moving up to 10 mmscmd once the wells that are opened up and connected through that living quarter platform stabilize.
Coming to your second question of what is the production levels for FY 2026–27. For crude oil, we have 21 MMT. Guidance on gas for FY 2026-2027 is 21.487 BCM. The total would come out to 42.50.
Right.
The first one, these wells. Yeah.
Yeah.
Huh?
Yeah, yeah.
Current year was on these.
Yeah, on the current year also.
Yes.
Thank you.
Sorry, sorry. On the current year, we have crude oil at 90.928 and gas at 20.110, which is 41.04 in totality.
Thank you, Aruna.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Atishy Rathi from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. Thank you so much for the opportunity. My question is regarding the OVL performance. I see that the volume curves remain almost flat Q1, Q2, but the revenues are substantially down. Could you have some clue on that?
Mukul, can you just add on to that?
Volume curves?
Hang on.
Volume curves here for... Hang on. Hang on.
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yes.
Volume curves here sort of flatten because of the Russian impact, the geopolitical impacts. The Russian assets have been impacted in terms of production, and we have been almost stable. The oil production this quarter was in the same range as in the last quarter, with a difference of about 2%. As far as our operated assets are concerned, we are doing well. We have increased production in South Sudan. In CPF 5, we are doing pretty well. The revenue is largely impacted by the crude oil price realizations because our average realization has come down from INR 67- INR 60. That also has a Russian angle.
Interesting. If I look at kind of standalone ONGC, first ONGC, I see that the revenue from the was basically down only 9%. Whereas for OVL, it's almost down like 66%. We're still trying to figure out if the revenue is going to come down. I believe the impact, even if we take into account the mix, it's going to come down that much. If there's something that's missing.
Just to share, there is some kind of change in the arrangement related to the sale in one of the projects. What has happened earlier, we were selling the entire product, and it was getting recorded as revenue in the book of ONGC. With this, right now, that sale is not coming to us. Instead, we are getting that entire profit from the JV. Earlier, we were selling on behalf of JV. That was getting recorded as revenue. Now it is not coming to us. What arrangement I see, that's a significant impact. Almost INR 900 crore plus of revenue that was there in the last year is not there in the current year.
Understood. Thank you so much.
Thank you, sir. The next question comes from Baraja Ravi from Ansix Rock, Brooklyn United. Please go ahead.
Baraja, Brooklyn United. I wanted to understand if New Well Gas is currently like around the level at which you are. How often does it get reviewed? When should we expect a next review and in what kind of a format?
See, this price book reviews every month. No, reviewed every month. The price that's reviewed every month is every six months.
When will be the next review?
Sometime in the next two, three months.
Yeah, I think that's.
Just hold on for a second.
Yeah.
Yeah. Your quantity gets projected monthly also. Monthly, accordingly, that quantum gets decided. Pricing is based upon the gas pricing, whatever that ATM price to upper value Indian basket, 20% upon 12% on the Indian basket, which gets revised every month.
there any update on Mozambique this year as well?
Yes, every month.
What? Upon what? Update on?
Mozambique.
Yeah.
Mozambique currently is still in the fourth measure. We are expecting that since the improvement, there has been a very substantial improvement on the ground. We were expecting August, September, this FMP be lifted. Total is in talks with the government over there. They have also had talks with all the partners. Actions have started to have been initiated to start the operations over there. We do expect that very shortly, maybe in a month's time, we should have work up and going and the fourth measure withdrawn from there.
Thank you a lot.
Thank you. The next question comes from Mayank Nesri from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the call. My question is more related to the operating cost itself. I think if you look at on a per unit basis, the operating costs are still tracking higher. If you look at YOY basis on a long cycle last two-year average basis, any chances of this kind of coming down considering you have been highlighting focus on the cost side in the last call? What are like is there a view here that you can share with us?
Yes. The increase, as I've mentioned earlier, was mainly because of the hiring charges that have increased as far as the FPSO was concerned on the East Coast. When you compare Q1, Q2 on a quarter basis, during this current quarter, the FPSO was working at full capacity, and therefore, the price or the rate that was being charged was the full rate. In the previous year, quarter one, the FPSO rate was lower because it was not fully being utilized. At that time, 70% was the rate. Subsequently, from October onwards, it became the full rate that was being charged. That was one aspect that comes OPaL (OPaL), we supply C2C3 through our C2C3 plant. Now, since OPaL is now working or is full stream ahead, we have been providing more LNG also to them.
Because of this, the purchase of LNG has also increased. Processing of our gas has also increased over there, and this has led to the increase in the cost. The focus on cost reduction remains. We have been starting to cut down upon our costs also. There have been decreases in other expenses, and transportation expenses, etc., have also come down. What has increased is in sync with the quantum of production increases that have happened. The focus remains upon cost control. However, if there's production increase, there is going to be the production costs also moving up accordingly. There have been a number of areas in which we have been able to reduce the costs also, like insurance, where we have cut down on the costs. There has been a decrease of about 15% in insurance expenses.
We have also cut down upon some of the repair and maintenance costs also. This is work in progress always, and this is going to help.
Very clear, sir.
Very substantially, we have been able to reduce our manpower costs also, partly because, yes, there have been retirements in the company.
Thank you so much.
Yeah. Hello. I'm audible. We have also done measures to reduce our operational costs in another method. If you see for the Western Offshore, our fields spread out from right from below Mumbai side to right up to the Gujarat coast. We have been earlier operating from Mumbai only. All our sorties or all our dispatches for cargo, et cetera, have been from Mumbai Nava Sheva port. Now we have taken up Pipavav Port, which is closer to the northern side of the seas. By using that port, we have started to cut down on the cargo or the transportation costs. We have also started utilizing Surat Airport for our sorties for manpower deployments. It cuts down a lot on the time as well as the sorties that are there. These cost reductions will get translated over this year, which should be visible subsequently.
No, very clear. I think thank you for that detailed explanation.
The second is a fair weather. Sorry.
Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.
In the fair weather, we are also using crew boats, which reduces the cost of transportation of people from shore to the offshore. It reduces the number of helicopter sorties that we have to, which are much more expensive. It also reduces the risk that our employees and contractual employees face while going to offshore. All these measures will translate during over the course of the year into lesser costs as far as operating costs are concerned.
Just an extension of this, correct? Is there a guidance you want to kind of give us into the end of the year, where your OpEx per barrel could kind of stick, or whether you see a 10%, 15% reduction with all the things that you kind of highlighted very clearly on a per barrel basis where your cost could kind of stick, considering there could be some impact coming in also because of some of the credit costs, etc., kind of shifting lower as well, I'm assuming. Is there something that you can guide us on that?
In the first quarter, we were not in a position to do that guidance. We were thinking on that issue, but we would let a bit more time flow because the Pipavav has come very recently. We have not yet stabilized those operations. We have also not shifted most of our operations from Mumbai, only partly just shifted. Within a six-month period, maybe October, November onwards in the fair season, we should start making more use of Pipavav assets as well as for the crew boats. The costs would start appearing, how much we are going to save on it.
Okay. The last question was on OPaL. You are running now at close to around 90% utilization rate. You think, I think, because most of the other assets in the country are running closer to 100% or above, sometimes even above 100%. You think with your performance in OPaL that you have been now scaling up, you think that's something that you can kind of get to going forward?
Yes, yes. We are very hopeful, or rather, we are aiming to do that. That should be closer to 100 or even try and cross it.
Correct.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Puneet Gulati from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is, you know, for gas production has been delayed a bit. Do you anticipate the risk for in ramp-up? What would you attribute as a main cause for supply delay in the gas ramp-up?
Yeah. For the KG Basin, that production could not happen because our living quarters got decreased, living quarters that got decreased, and because of which, we are not in a position to tie up our gas belts, which have already been fixed. They need to be connected and the gas supply should start. That happens as in the winter. It's November, January, February, we should have that gas coming up.
That's living quarters yet to be tied up?
Yeah. It is to be installed as is. It is fabricated. Everything is ready. It has to be brought to India and then installed over here. Because of the monsoon season, we are not able to do it now. We will be able to do it after October only. It is planned to be done in November to come.
On the oil side, does that also help oil ramp-up from 30% to more? Do you think we've reached the peak now?
No, no. We expect the peak to be higher. All these measures should also help to improve the oil production from East Coast, KG 98.
What is the peak oil we're talking about here?
We have a target of 45,000.
In your earnings, if you could talk a bit about the slightly lower other income during the quarter, anything you can attribute it to?
Other income was lower because last year we pumped in about INR 18,365 crore into OPaL. That's the fourth. That much amount went out, and interest rates have also fallen and gone southward. That has contributed for that reduction in our other income assets.
Okay. How much is OPaL contributing now?
OPaL, EBITDA positive, it has happened for the fourth quarter.
Yeah. So 80 is EBITDA positive, which is around INR 13 crore.
13.
Okay. What does it take OPaL (OPaL) to go better numbers?
From here, one, we need the production to happen. Broadly, that is all that would be required. Now that the plant is running on plus, we expect that it should improve. Its performance should improve, and we should get a better risk.
Price also is affecting the plant.
We are also expecting the petrochemical cycle to start an upturn. Prices are looking up, and over the period of this year, we should expect that it should do much better.
Understood.
That's clear.
Thank you so much.
Interest rates are also going down, plus costs also, interest quantum also going down. It shouldn't help us.
Understood.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have any questions, please raise your hand on your telephone. The next question comes from Achal Shah from Ambit Capital Pvt Ltd . Please go ahead. Our third question comes from Achal Shah. Please go ahead.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yeah, you're audible.
Sorry, sir. I'm saying that how much of the gas volume is currently APM and NWG percentage? Going ahead, how will this % change?
Just one moment. Currently, our New Well Gas, what we are expecting for this FY 2025–2026 would be 2.6 BCM. Going ahead, we could be around 13%-1 4% assets. Next year, we are expecting it to be 4.8 plus BCM, which would be around 24%- 25%.
Understood. Sir, my follow-up question is, I just wanted to know like the arrangement. Are we doing any other type of arrangements, onshore arrangements to increase production of a smaller belt? Do you see any upside there in terms of volume or output?
We do not currently have any other arrangements with BP as far as the production increases are concerned, except for the one that we have at Mumbai High. Coming to other fields, onshore fields, yes, there are many pockets where we could be having additional production, which is possible. We are continuously doing those things. New Well Gas, if you see, is there, and the production or the quantum is rising because we continue to look for newer avenues for production in the existing fields also, mature fields also. It is a continuous process, and we expect that additional oil and gas should continue to flow from these mature fields also.
Perfect. Because if it's guidance for your 20% as 20% and a broad breakup, that would be a problem.
Broadly, we would continue INR 30,000+ or INR 3,000 or whatever we are picking annually, CapEx, out of which excavations should be INR 8,000-INR 10,000 crores. We should have our infrastructure projects coming up to INR 15,000 crore. Drilling should be another, less than INR 15,000. Drilling should be around INR 10,000 crores, that is happening. Balance some other projects as well.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Kaushik Patel from SS&C Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
go ahead, Mukul. Regarding ONGC' s investments in OPaL, I just wanted to understand going forward because there is a significant debt which is there in that balance sheet. While it is starting to contribute EBITDA, would you also be looking to basically contribute more capital over there to further improve the profit and loss? At the same time, there are also some expansion plans which had come up in the news regarding plans to ramp up capacity under ONGC into the subsidiaries. Would OPaL be also in the mix of all this? Is there any progress or development which you can share on this?
For OPaL, the debt is around INR 24,800 crore.
We do not immediately intend to add any further equity or pump in funds to reduce this debt from ONGC 's side. We do believe company, OPaL, would be able to sustain its existing debts as of now, now considering that the petrochemical cycle is expected to look up and the plant is running well. As of now, we do not have any immediate plans of pumping in into OPaL assets. We believe it should be able to manage on its own. The second part, as far as whether we are looking at any expansion for anything like that, immediately, we do not have plans because we are looking at ensuring that this plant runs properly.
It does have a lot of capabilities and capacities available over there as far as land is concerned or streams are concerned, different streams, or gas streams, or hydrocarbon streams that are concerned, which could be very beneficial for value-added products to be generated from there. We would be looking at all these in the future.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Kishan Mundhra from DAM . Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Just one question of weather clarification. Could the production guidance that you've given for FY 2026 and FY 2027, is it for ONGC standalone, or does it also include a large share of JV production?
For your question, standalone.
Standalone.
Okay, that's it for me.
Thank you. We have a follow-up question from Vivekanand from Ambit Capital Pvt Ltd . Please go ahead.
Yeah. My questions have been answered. Thank you so much.
Okay.
Thank you, sir. There are no further questions. Now, I hand over the floor to Vivek Tongaonkar from ONGC for closing comments.
Thank you very much. Thank you all for being on this call. We do hope that we have been able to answer all your questions that have been there. If requiring further information or clarification, please get in touch with our IRC department. Till I think it should be available with, otherwise, they are available on our website. Thank you once more, all for the.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. Thank you for your participation and for using Door Sabha's conference call for this. You may disconnect your lines now.