Indian Oil Corporation's June 2011 quarter losses widened to Rs 3,719 crore against Rs 3,388 crore in the corresponding previous quarter. The main reasons for this were unmet revenue loss on sale of regulated petroleum products, increase in interest outgo and inventory loss.

The IOC scrip shed 3.5 per cent to close at Rs 326.35 on BSE.

IOC sells diesel, PDS kerosene, and domestic LPG at government-controlled prices. The total under-recovery for the quarter stood at Rs 23,806 crore. Of this, it got Rs 7,932 crore by way of discounts from the upstream oil companies and another Rs 8,201 crore from the Government. Mr R. S. Butola, Chairman, IOC, said, “the unmet under-realisation increased to Rs 7,672.59 crore from Rs 7,343 crore in the previous year.”

IOC's interest outgo almost doubled to Rs 1,038 crore, while borrowings stood at Rs 67,458 crore.

Besides, the company incurred an inventory loss of Rs 900 crore. IOC had an inventory when the Government cut the Customs duty on crude oil to zero from five per cent in June. This lead to revaluation losses, Mr Butola said.

The net sales for the quarter were up 29 per cent at Rs 92,523 crore. The company's gross refining margin stood at $ 4.71/ barrel versus $ 3/ barrel .

Paying Iran via Turkey bank

IOC said it had begun clearing its debt to Iran on oil imports. The company paid €73 million out of the total debt of about €460 million. The IOC, Director Finance, Mr P K Goyal said, the remaining dues would be cleared in 15-20 days.

The payment was being done through a Turkish bank. IOC buys 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran. The company had received 0.8 million tonnes till July and one cargo is expected in September.

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