The BSE Sensex, meanwhile, was down 91.81 points, or 0.60%, to 15068.50.

On BSE, 28.50 lakh shares were traded on the counter with pending buy orders of 1.70 lakh shares at maximum limit. The scrip had an average daily volume of 5.46 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The shares of mid-cap oil and gas exploration firm had hit a high of Rs 199 and a low of Rs 184.85 so far during the day. It had touched a record high of Rs 202 on 7 August 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 42.90 on 27 October 2008.

The scrip outperformed outperformed the market over the past one month till 7 August 2009, surging 68.01% as compared to the Sensex's 5.98% rise. It had outperformed the market in the past one quarter, gaining 90.57% as compared to the Sensex's return of 25.12%.

The company's current equity is Rs 130.53 crore, having a face value of Rs 10.

The current market price of Rs 199 discounts its Q1 June 2009 annualised EPS of Rs 3.83, by a PE multiple of 51.95

As per reports, gas production from Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC)'s PY-1 field is likely to begin gas production before end-September 2009. HOEC's PY-1 field has been under development for over 15 years.

The PY-1 block extends over an area of 75 square kilometre and HOEC is the sole licencee of the field, which lies in the Bay of Bengal, off Puducherry.

On 21 July 2009 HOEC said that the two blocks acquired under national oil exploration licensing policy (NELP) VII have been granted Petroleum Exploration Licence by the Government of Rajasthan. The first block RJ-ONN- 2005/1 where the company holds a 20% participating interest has validity of 7 Years from 13 July 2009. The second block RJ-ONN-2005/2 where the company's participating interest is 25% bears validity of 7 Years from 13 July 2009.

HOEC reported an 8.1% fall in net profit to Rs 12.49 crore on 22.9% slide in net sale sto Rs 15.02 crore in Q1 June 2009 over Q1 June 2008.

The company is an independent exploration and production company, which operates in the offshore oil and gas exploration segment.