LONDON (Alliance News) - Vedanta Resources PLC on Thursday said its Cairn India Ltd business saw revenue grow 5.0% in the third quarter from the prior quarter, but profit was down due to foreign exchange losses.
The business generated revenue of INR21.49 billion, equal to GBP250.0 million in the three months ended December 31, driving earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up 3.0% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The increase in revenue was driven by the increase in Brent prices and improved discount to Brent for Rajasthan crude during the period.
Average Brent prices increased around 8.0% quarter-on-quarter in the period to USD49.3 per barrel, and the Rajasthan crude discount to Brent also lowered to USD3.4 per barrel from USD4.3 per barrel.
However, net profit declined in the Cairn India business by 22% quarter-on-quarter after the rupee depreciated in the period, by around 1.9% against the dollar on a closing basis.
Vedanta said the Cairn India business's average gross oil and gas production remained risk at around 182 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, in line with expectations considering its planned maintenance shut-down in Rajasthan.
During the third quarter, Cairn India's gross production came in at 16.7 million barrels of oil equivalent across all assets, of which working interest production was 10.7 million barrels of oil equivalent. Gross sales for the three months were 17.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, averaging at around 185,339 barrels of oil per day.
Shares in Vedanta were down 2.9% at 1,021.00 pence on Thursday afternoon.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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