Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has reported almost 95 per cent drop in net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal (2012-13) compared with the same quarter last fiscal.

This was mainly because the third quarter of 2011-12 had accounted for the higher level of compensation which the public sector oil refiner-cum-retailer had received for under-recoveries on sale of petroleum products of earlier quarters.

For the third quarter of the current fiscal the net profit stood at Rs 147.11 crore (Rs 2,725.18 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011).

In a statement the company said, “The profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, was higher as approval of compensation for under-recoveries on sales of petroleum products of earlier quarters was accounted for during October-December 2011.”

The comfort letter from the Finance Ministry sanctioning additional compensation of Rs 25,000 crore to the three public sector oil marketing companies of which HPCL got Rs 5,538.19 crore.

This compensation has helped decrease the accumulated loss for the period April-December 2012 to Rs 6,774.60 crore from Rs 6,921.71 crore as of September 2012.

HPCL has registered gross sales of Rs 1,51,798 crore for the period April-December against Rs 1,33,474 crore in the corresponding previous period, an increase of 13.7 per cent.

The company’s gross refinery margin during the nine months period was $1.46 a barrel down from $2.17 a barrel in the same period previous fiscal. HPCL also plans to raise money through external currency borrowing (ECB) or bonds route during the current fiscal.

According to the limit prescribed by RBI, the company can raise up to $750 million.

> richa.mishra@thehindu.co.in

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