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Announcing the financial results of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL), which is a subsidiary of IOCL, Ashok said, "We have given contracts for building refrigerated tanks and re-gasification facilities for the LNG terminal project". He is also the Chairman of CPCL.
The project, which is coming up with an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore, has three components in it, which are setting up of refrigerated tanks, re-gasification facilities and marine facilities. CPCL might look at LNG as an option for the fuel used in the refinery once the availability of the gas is stable, which would also save cost to the company.
According to company sources, currently CPCL is using the fuel available from crude oil itself, to burn the crude oil in the refinery. Migrating to gas fuel is expected to help the company to save cost on fuel. LNG is an option for the fuel required in the refineries and the cost depends upon the availability of the fuel and other factors, said an official.
CPCL has posted an increase of 81.04 per cent in net profit during the quarter ended June 30, 2015, at Rs 923.51 crore, as compared to Rs 510.11 crore during the same period of previous fiscal year. The total income from operations stood at Rs 9053.43 crore during the quarter, as against Rs 12989.44 crore during the same quarter of previous fiscal year, a drop of 30 per cent.
Better through-put, decrease in crude oil prices and higher distillate production has helped CPCL to come out with a higher net profit during the quarter, said Ashok. The company's turnover has come down to Rs 11,386 crore for the first quarter ending June 30, 2015, as compared to Rs 14,222 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal year, due to the sharp fall in prices of petroleum products from the second half of the year 2014-15.
However, it has earned a higher Gross Refining Margin (GRM) of $10.09 per bbl during the first quarter of 2015-16 as against $1.88 bbl during the same period last year as the product cracks have improved over the previous year coupled with continued strong physical performance, said company officials.
The company has achieved the highest ever crude thruput of 2,843 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) for the first quarter of 2015-16, as compared to 2819 TMT during the corresponding quarter, last year. The total distillates production was also the highest at 74.3 per cent during the first quarter of 2015-16 as compared to 71.3 per cent in the first quarter of previous year.
The company will have Rs 1,392 crore capex for the year 2015-16, which is for resid upgradation and laying of a new crude oil pipeline, said Gautam Roy, managing director of CPCL.
The company is implementing resid upgradation project at an estimated cost of Rs 3,110 crore to maximise the distillates yield of Manali Refinery and increase the proportion of sour crude processing, which is scheduled for mechanical completion by the year 2016, of which it has achieved physical progress of 54.89 per cent at the end of the first quarter.
For its new crude oil pipeline project of Rs 257.87 crore, to replace the existing crude oil pipeline from Chennai Port to Manali Refinery, tendering jobs are in progress and the project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2016, said the company.
It is also working on revamping the existing Diesel Hydro-desulphurisation Unit (DHDS) from 1.8 MMTPA to 2.34 MMTPA in its Manali refinery, order to meet the requirement of the Auto Fuel Vision and Policy 2025 oc the central government. After the revamp, CPCL will be in a position to produce Hydro-treated Diesel with less than 10 ppm Sulphor. Engineering activities are in progress with a target to commission by March 31, 2017, it added.
