State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) today reported 81 per cent drop in its fourth quarter net profit at Rs 703.18 crore as it was not fully compensated for selling fuel below cost.
Net profit fell to Rs 703.18 crore in January-March from Rs 3,628.02 crore a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
Sales or income from operations rose 42 per cent to Rs 37,550.90 crore.
Like its sister state fuel retailers, BPCL sells petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost on government diktat to keep inflation under check.
While its Rs 3,629.84 crore revenue loss on selling petrol and diesel below cost in 2009-10 was fully made up, the loss on domestic LPG and kerosene was only partly compensated. It got Rs 5,265.03 crore for LPG and kerosene, Rs 1,235 crore less than total loss it incurred on selling cooking fuels.
BPCL Director (Finance) S K Joshi said the company earned $2.75 for turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel at its Mumbai refinery in Q4 of 2009-10 as against $5.13 per barrel in the same period a year ago.
At its Kochi refinery, the gross refining margins were $5.09 per barrel in the quarter under review, against $4.58 a barrel in the same period in the previous fiscal. The refining margin in Q4 of 2008-09 at Kochi refinery was lower because the unit had taken a shutdown, he said.
The company earned $1.78 for every barrel of crude it turned into fuels in the 2009-10 fiscal at its Mumbai refinery compared with $4.48 a barrel a year before. Refining margin for the Kochi refinery was $4.87 per barrel, down from $6.27 a barrel.
The nation's second largest public sector refiner reported a net profit of Rs 1,537.62 crore compared to Rs 735.9 crore in 2008-09 fiscal. Consolidated sales were, however, lower at Rs 123,816.72 crore from Rs 136,557.12 crore in the previous fiscal.