HPCL reports Rs 172 cr profit in Q3 as oil prices fall

After two consecutive quarters of losses, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs 172.43 crore in October-December 2022 as a fall in oil prices helped it recoup some of the losses on the sale of petrol and diesel.

Standalone net profit of Rs 172.43 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal compared with Rs 868.86 crore profit in the same period a year back, according to a stock exchange filing by the company.

HPCL and other state-owned fuel retailers did not revise petrol and diesel prices when international oil prices touched a multi-year high last year. That led to them booking losses in two back-to-back quarters.

However, rates softened in the third quarter. This should have warranted a reduction in petrol and diesel prices but the oil companies held on to retail prices to recoup the losses they had booked in the previous six months.

Revenue from operations rose to Rs 1.15 lakh crore from Rs 1.03 lakh crore in October-December 2021.

The company processed 4.83 million tonnes of crude oil in the quarter, up from 4.24 million tonnes in the previous year.

HPCL said it earned $11.40 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel during April-December 2022 as against a gross refining margin of $4.50 per barrel.

"This is before factoring the impact of special additional excise duty (windfall tax) and road and infrastructure cess levied on export of select petroleum products, effective July 1, 2022," it said. "During this period, due to the suppressed marketing margins on certain petroleum products, the profitability is impacted."

Also, the company booked a foreign exchange loss of Rs 1,951.64 crore during April to December as compared to a gain of Rs 183.01 crore a year back.

Later in a press release, HPCL said its refineries at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam processed the highest-ever quarterly crude oil volume of 4.83 million tonnes during October-December.

Average gross refining margin for the third quarter was $9.14 per barrel as compared to $6.39 during the corresponding period of the previous year.

During October-December 2022, sales volume grew 6.7 per cent to 11.25 million tonnes.

"The company recorded higher than industry growth in major lines of petrol, diesel, LPG, lubes and furnace oil," the statement added.

HPCL said it invested Rs 9,240 crore in strengthening refining and marketing infrastructure in the current fiscal.

"Our Visakh refinery modernization project for enhancing the refining capacity from 8.3 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes is in advanced stage of completion with all the utilities required for new units already commissioned," it said.

Also, a 5 million tonnes per annum LNG terminal is nearing completion.