India’s Top Oil Producer Posts a Surprise Loss on Tax Provisions

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. reported an unexpected loss for the fourth quarter on account of provisions made for disputed tax demands.

The company posted a loss of 2.5 billion rupees ($30.3 million) for the three months ended March, compared with a 88.6 billion rupee profit a year earlier, according to a stock exchange filing. A Bloomberg survey of analysts had estimated an average profit of 107.8 billion rupees for the quarter.

India’s top explorer made a provision of about 92.4 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) in the fourth quarter for disputed tax demands on the royalty the company pays ...