Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on Thursday posted growth nearly doubling of net profit in the June quarter after inventory gains offset a decline in refining margins and fuel sales.
Revenue operation clipped net profit in April-June at Rs 2,076.17 crore compared with Rs 1, 075.12 crore a year back, the company claims in a regulatory filing. The earning of company was USD 0.39 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel as compared to a gross refining mrgin of USD 2.81 a barrel in the same period of last year.
The company sold its fuel in the quarter that witness economic activity coming to a halt due to nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. The sales dropped to 7.53 million tonnes when compared to 11.11 million tonnes sales previous year. ” Decrease (in sales) is mainly in retail petrol(38.77 per cent ), retail diesel (34.62 per cent), ATF (82.92 per cent) and partly offset by an increase in LPG(10.83 per cent), ” it said.
Company officials are of opinion that the rise in profit was specifically due to inventory gains resulting from the valuation of inventory kept rising because of a pick up in oil prices in the later half of the quarter. ” The COVID-19 has resulted the lockdown of many countries from March 25, 2020, in India, had an impact on the business of the corporation. ” Accordingly lower demand for crude oil and petroleum products has affected the prices and as a result refining margin globally,” BPCL said.
Since essential services are covered under petroleum products, the refining and marketing operations of the Corporation were continued during lockdown period. ” During the quarter, there was lower refinery output and the revenue from operations which was basically due to lower demand for petroleum products. With the slow opening of the market, corporation desires the refinery output and revenue from operations will improve and will be at normal levels after COVID-19 impact and removal of complete lockdown restrictions,” it said.
BPCL’s refineries processed 5.14 million tonnes of crude oil in April-June, fall from 7.45 million tonnes a year back. Sales dropped 32.22 per cent. Revenue from operations during the said quarter was down to Rs 50,616.92 crore from Rs 81,296.23 crore in the same period of 2019-20.
