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Our Bureau

Mumbai, Oct. 30 Public Sector oil refining and marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has reported a loss of Rs 2,625.27 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2008. The company had made a profit of Rs 1,038.16 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year.

According to BPCL, the losses were on account of high crude prices and large under-recovery on sale of petrol, diesel and other products. The company had also suffered an exchange rate loss of Rs 714 crore during the quarter.

Net sales for the quarter were up by 50 per cent to Rs 37,850 crore from Rs 25,170 crore in the year ago quarter.

For the six months, the losses amounted to Rs 3,691.96 crore, against a profit of Rs 1,230.88 crore in the year-ago period.

Exchange rate losses for the six months amounted to Rs 1,141 crore (against a gain of Rs 332 crore in the corresponding period).

Mr S.K. Joshi Director (Finance), BPCL, said that under-recoveries had taken a heavy toll on the company’s finances. In the last two quarters, the under-recovery figure has shot up to Rs 21,824 crore.

This includes Rs 2,300 crore on petrol, Rs 13,630 crore on diesel, Rs 3,046 crore on kerosene and Rs 2,843 crore on LPG.

Mr Joshi said that for the half-year, the company had received only Rs 10,548 crore by way of oil bonds and Rs 6,078 crore under the subsidy sharing mechanism from oil producing companies.

He said about Rs 5,200 crore was yet to be recovered. In the next 10 days the company was likely to receive about Rs 15,000 crore as oil bonds.

Crude throughput for the three months dropped marginally to 5.29 million tonnes from 5.58 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year. Market sales increased to 6.27 million tonnes from 5.78 million tonnes.

The Gross Refining Margin (GRM) for the quarter dropped to $1.57 a barrel from $2.69 a barrel for Mumbai Refinery mainly due to high inventory cost, he said. However, for Kochi refinery, GRM increased to $6.01 a barrel from $4.78 .

For the six-month period, GRM increased to $5.30 a barrel from $4.54 a barrel for Mumbai Refinery and to $11.77 a barrel from $ 6.32 a barrel for Kochi refinery.

For the half year, the market sales have increased to 13.23 mt from 12.10 mt. Retail sales of diesel have increased by 17 per cent, petrol by 13 per cent, aviation fuel by 10 per cent, LPG by 6 per cent and naphtha by 13 per cent.

Average price for Brent crude for the second quarter was $116 a barrel. According to analysts, the benefit of lower crude price is more or less nullified by the weakening rupee, which had touched 50 a dollar earlier this week.

More Stories on : Financial Performance | Petroleum | Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd

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