Indian Oil’s Q1 net profit plunges 47% to Rs1,911 cr
03 Aug 2020
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), the country’s top refiner, has reported a net profit of Rs1,911 crore for fiscal first quarter ended 30 June 2020, which is about 47 per cent lower compared with the Rs3,596 crore net profit during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
Indian Oil reported a 41 per cent decline in revenue from operations for the first quarter of financial year 20-21, at Rs88,937 crore, compared with Rs1,50,137 crore in corresponding quarter of 2019-20.
IOC said, like all other oil marketing companies, it has been suffering inventory losses mainly on account of the lockdown restrictions imposed in the wake of the corona virus outbreak.
“IndianOil sold 16.504 million tonnes of products, including exports, during the first quarter of financial year 2020-21. Our refining throughput for Q1 20-21 was 12.930 million tonnes and the throughput of the Corporation’s countrywide pipelines network was 15.017 million tonnes during the same period,” IndianOil chairman SM Vaidya said.
“The gross refining margin (GRM) during the first quarter of FY 20-21 was $1.98 per barrel compared with $4.69 per barrel in corresponding period of the previous financial year. The core GRM for current period after offsetting inventory loss/ gain comes to $4.27 per bbl.” the chairman added.
Lockdowns around the world have knocked energy demand, forcing refiners to reduce crude processing and narrowed their refining margins.
“The company’s sales during the month of April 2020 was impacted significantly by the nationwide lockdown and consequently capacity utilisation of the plants was lower,” it said in a statement.
Refinery runs, however, returned close to normal levels by June, it added.
In the April-June quarter IOC operated its nine directly owned refineries at about 75 per cent capacity.
Its fuel sales, including exports, fell 27 percent to 16.50 million tonnes.
IOC, along with its unit Chennai Petroleum (CHPC.NS), controls about a third of India’s five million-barrels-per-day refining capacity.