11th Apr 2016 06:22
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vedanta Resources PLC on Monday said the majority of its commodity portfolio experienced a rise in production in the recently ended financial year, with its zinc operations outside of India and its oil and gas division the only units to experience falls in the year.
The multi-commodity group said average working interest production of oil and gas in the financial year to the end of March fell 3% to 128,191 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 132,663 barrels of oil per day in the previous year.
From its Zinc India operations, production of refined zinc rose 3% in the year to 759,000 tonnes from 734,000 tonnes, refined lead production rose 14% to 145,000 tonnes from 127,000 tonnes and silver production was up a hefty 30% to 13.7 million ounces from 10.5 million ounces.
Vedanta's zinc operations outside of India, however, produced 27% less zinc in the year, totalling 226,000 tonnes from 312,000 tonnes a year ago.
Copper cathode production in India rose 6% to 384,000 tonnes from 362,000 tonnes, whilst copper production from Zambia rose 8% to 182,000 tonnes from 169,000 tonnes.
Aluminium production was up 5% in the year to 923,000 tonnes from 877,000 tonnes, and Vedanta's power generation unit reported a 23% rise in total power sales during the year.
"We are continuing to optimise production across our portfolio to generate maximum value in a low commodity price environment and remaining focussed on reducing costs to protect margins. These strong operational results reinforce the quality of our assets, our operational capability and resilience to weak markets. We also remain committed to pro-actively manage our balance sheet in these weak markets," said Chief Executive Tom Albanese.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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