BPCL standalone profit zooms to ₹1,261 crore in Q3
by Our BureauState-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) reported a standalone net profit of ₹1,260.63 crore in the October to December of FY20 from ₹495.14 crore a year ago mainly on the back of a marginal inventory gain of about ₹100 crore.
“There was a huge inventory loss of about ₹2,000 crore in the third quarter of last year. This year there is a very small inventory gain. So, the net result is that there is a huge variation in the inventory side and that was major reason for the increase in the net profit by 2.5 times,” BPCL Finance Director N Vijayagopal told BusinessLine.
Revenue from operation dropped to ₹85,368.33 crore from ₹88,272.14 crore a year ago on lower oil prices.
Vijayagopal said that BPCL’s performance were affected by two reasons — demand slackness due to a slowdown in the economy and the lower refining crack spreads – the difference between crude and product prices both in diesel and petrol.
“In spite of the adverse factors, we have been able to have a decent PAT,” he said.
Despite the demand slowdown in the economy and a negative growth in diesel, BPCL held on to its market position. During the third quarter, BPCL gross refining margin was $3.23 a barrel and the firm and had the highest-ever quarterly throughput of 8.41 million tonnes compared to 7.49 mt a year ago.
“On the physical side, we have done excellently but the price factors and demand are beyond our control,” Vijayagopal added.