<div>State-run producer Oil & Natural Gas Corp, reported a 32 per cent fall in quarterly profit, just missing expectations, as lower average crude oil prices and a higher subsidy burden weighed on profits.</div><div> </div><div>The company reported a net profit of Rs 5897 crore for its fiscal second quarter ended September, down from Rs 8642 crore a year earlier.</div><div> </div><div>Analysts, on an average, had expected a net profit of Rs 6090 crore,according to a Reuters poll of brokerages.</div><div> </div><div>Net sales fell 13 per cent to Rs 19,788 crore</div><div> </div><div>Shares of ONGC, India's third-biggest company with a market value of $41.9 billion, closed 0.6 per cent lower on Thursday, ahead of the results. The stock has risen 3.5 per cent so far in 2012, nearly matching a 4.3 per cent rise in the BSE oil and gas index.<br /><br />(Reuters)</div>
