Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC) announced the Q3 December 2012 result after market hours on Wednesday, 13 February 2013.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 25.09 points or 0.13% to 19,582.99

On BSE, 2.23 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 3.67 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 89.55 in intraday trade today, 14 February 2013. The stock hit a high of Rs 96 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 152.70 on 22 February 2012.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 February 2013, falling 10.73% compared with the Sensex's 0.28% fall. The scrip also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 1.87% as against Sensex's 5.31% rise.

The small-cap oil exploration firm has an equity capital of Rs 130.49 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

HOEC's bottomline was hit adversely due to an impairment loss in Q3 December 2012. HOEC said that based on third party reserves assessment and reduction in Proved Reserves in PY-1, the company has carried out an impairment test based on procedures consistent with the Accounting Standards in India and recognised a one-time exceptional loss of Rs 571.97 crore in Q3 December 2012. The total net worth of the company post-write off as of 31 December 2012 is Rs 685.24 crore.

Commenting on the outlook for the Company, Mr. R Vasudevan, Chairman said: “PY-1 Gas Field has witnessed a downgrade in reserves and the Company has, accordingly, recognised an impairment loss. Undoubtedly a setback, however HOEC is engaged in reassessing the complete hydrocarbon potential of this Field and finding technological solutions to drain the reserves in a most economical manner. Our portfolio presents some projects with significant potential and our team is focused on bringing these projects to revenue generating phase. ”

As operator, HOEC, on behalf of the consortium partners, has submitted a Commercial Discovery Report (CDR) relating to the significant “Dirok” Gas Discovery, in a conventional and prolific ‘Girujan' Reservoir setting in Upper Assam, to the authorities on 31 December 2012 and the same is under review. After the approval of the CDR, the Consortium shall be making a disclosure of the Resources and presenting a Field Development Plan, to monetise the gas from ‘Dirok' Discovery with an accelerated time-to-market schedule with ‘First Gas' during the calendar year 2015.

In a press release, HOEC said that with its existing portfolio of exploration and production assets centric to India, the company shall be actively seeking out business opportunities in the conventional and unconventional plays to re-position its portfolio for growth.

HOEC was incorporated in 1983 for taking up Exploration and Production (E&P) activities. The company has participating interest in nine oil/gas fields in India (in Cambay basin, Cauvery basin, Assam Arakan basin and Rajasthan basin), which are in varying stages of E&P life cycle i.e. exploration, development and production.