Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) reported a net profit of Rs 747 crore on a standalone basis for the three months ended December 31, recording a 201.2% rise from the same period a year ago. The oil refining and marketing company attributed the rise in profit to inventory gains, stemming from increase in global oil prices.
As retail prices of petroleum products are mapped with international rates, a gradual rise of global oil prices in Q3FY20 meant that by the time HPCL sold its products after processing crude, retail rates had increased. The inventory gain in the quarter was Rs 343 crore against losses of Rs 3,465 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, said HPCL chairman Mukesh Kumar Surana.
Including exports, HPCL sold 10.6 million tonne (MT) of petroleum product in the quarter, marking a rise of 8.6% y-o-y. Domestic sales were up 3.2% y-o-y to 9.8 MT. The company earned Rs 82 crore in the quarter from foreign currency transactions against an income of Rs 577 crore on this front in the corresponding quarter a year ago, offsetting some of the inventory gains.
HPCL received lower returns from its refinery operations as the firm earned only $1.79 from selling every barrel of refined products in the quarter, 51.9% lower than Q3FY19, partly due to planned shutdown of some units at its Visakh refinery.
After adding 278 new retail outlets in the quarter, HPCL’s total network size amounts to 16,017. Also, 60 new LPG distributorships were commissioned, taking the total distributorships to 6,040. HPCL said that works to upgrade its Visakh and Mumbai refineries are in progress and the 9-MMTPA greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical complex project of its unit HPCL Rajasthan Refinery is under execution. The company’s debt at the end of December stood at Rs 28,590 crore.
Recent Comments