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Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Thursday reported a net profit of ₹2,354.64 crore for the December 2020 quarter, an increase of 215.13 per cent from ₹747.20 crore a year ago.
The ONGC-owned refiner reported operating revenue of ₹77,112.90 crore during Q3 FY21, against ₹74,287.77 crore in Q3 FY20.
The net profit was boosted by an inventory gain of ₹1,323 crore, compared to ₹343 crore in the year-ago period.
HPCL refineries processed 4 million tonnes (mt) of crude during the third quarter (4.16 mt).
The company achieved an overall combined capacity utilisation of over 100 per cent at its refineries by optimising day-to-day crude run rate and regulating the product procurement from other sources during the prevailing challenging times, said MK Surana, Chairman and Managing Director.
HPCL sold 10.03 mt of petroleum products locally during the third quarter. The aggregate demand for petroleum products for the period April-December reached 88 per cent of the demand for the same period last year.
In Q3 FY21, the sales of MS (petrol) increased by 6.4 per cent, HSD (diesel) by 1.2 per cent and LPG by 5.9 per cent. While the growth rates of HSD and LPG were higher than the industry average, the growth of petrol was at par with the industry. Bitumen and naphtha witnessed growth of 18.3 per cent and 14.60 per cent, respectively.
The gross refining margin was $1.87 a barrel from $1.79 a barrel a year ago.
“Strategic planning and scheduling in refinery and marketing operations, effective inventory management and placement of products backed by its strong marketing infrastructure and dedicated efforts of workforce helped HPCL in containing the de-growth to less than the industry and run its refineries near to design capacities,” Surana said.
“This was supported by favourable crude price movements leading to inventory gains and rupee strengthening. Efforts to optimise operating costs and borrowing costs have further helped in profitability improvements. Continued weakness in product cracks, however, kept refinery margins on the lower side,” he added.
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