State-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) announced that its net profit during the third-quarter soared 132% to 7,083 crore on account of recovery of 1,900 crore dues from natural gas clients.

According to Chairman R S Sharma, the sharp increase in quarterly profit augured well for the energy giant, in which the administration proposes to sell 5% of its equity to lift up an approximated 13,000 crore by March.

Russia’s anti-trust office has given approval to India’s major exploration firm ONGC to acquire London-listed, Russia-focused oil firm Imperial Energy.

According to the sources, ONGC has agreed the acquisition of Imperial for US$ 2.6 billion in late August.

The sources further revealed that the proposed deal marks ONGC’s second investment in Russia, where the conglomerate already has 20 percent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas consortium headed by US major Exxon.