BPCL Q4 profit down 81 percent at 703.18 Crore


Bangalore: State-owned Bharat Petroleum on May 27 reported 81 per cent drop in its fourth quarter net profit at 703.18 crore as it was not fully compensated for selling fuel below cost. Net profit fell to 703.18 crore in January-March from 3,628.02 crore a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sales or income from operations rose 42 per cent to 37,550.90 crore. Like its sister state fuel retailers, BPCL sells petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost on government diktat to keep inflation under check. While its 3,629.84 crore revenue loss on selling petrol and diesel below cost in 2009-10 was fully made up, the loss on domestic LPG and kerosene was only partly compensated. It got 5,265.03 crore for LPG and kerosene, 1,235 crore less than total loss it incurred on selling cooking fuels. BPCL Director (Finance) S K Joshi said the company earned $2.75 for turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel at its Mumbai refinery in Q4 of 2009-10 as against $5.13 per barrel in the same period a year ago. At its Kochi refinery, the gross refining margins were $5.09 per barrel in the quarter under review, against $4.58 a barrel in the same period in the previous fiscal. The refining margin in Q4 of 2008-09 at Kochi refinery was lower because the unit had taken a shutdown, he said. The company earned $1.78 for every barrel of crude it turned into fuels in the 2009-10 fiscal at its Mumbai refinery compared with $4.48 a barrel a year before. Refining margin for the Kochi refinery was $ 4.87 per barrel, down from $6.27 a barrel. The nation's second largest public sector refiner reported a net profit of 1,537.62 crore compared to 735.9 crore in 2008-09 fiscal. Consolidated sales were, however, lower at. Rs 123,816.72 crore from 136,557.12 crore in the previous fiscal.
Source: PTI