State-owned Indian Oil Corporation reported third-quarter standalone net profit surged 18-fold to ₹8,063.39 crore, from ₹448.01 crore in the year-earlier period even as revenue from operations declined marginally.
Net profit was, however, lower on a sequential basis. Indian Oil had posted profit of ₹12,967.32 crore in the September quarter.
Revenue from operations rose to ₹2,23,012.37 crore, from ₹2,02,31204 crore in the second quarter, but was marginally lower than the ₹2,28,16,834 crore posted in the third quarter of FY23. Indian Oil shares closed 3.24% higher at ₹143.50 on the BSE on Wednesday.
Rating agency ICRA had on Tuesday highlighted that marketing margins on retail sales of auto fuels for the oil marketing companies had improved in recent weeks amid a slide in crude prices. The pump prices of petrol and diesel have remained unchanged since May 2022. A headroom for reduction in prices may emerge if crude prices remain stable, ICRA said.
“ICRA estimates the OMCs’ net realisation was higher by around ₹11 per litre for petrol and about ₹6 per litre for diesel compared to international product prices in January 2024 (till January 19),” said Girishkumar Kadam, senior vice president and group head-corporate ratings of ICRA. “The marketing margins for petrol witnessed an improvement in last few months after a sharp decline in September. While the margins for diesel were negative till October, they rebounded and turned positive from November,” he added.
Indian Oil said its average gross refining margin (GRM) for April-December 2023 was $13.26 per barrel compared with $21.08 in the year earlier period. The core GRM or the current price GRM for April – December 2023 after offsetting inventory loss/ gain comes to $11.73 per barrel, it said, without sharing the margin for the quarter. Domestic product sales of the company in the December quarter increased marginally year-on-year to 23.328 million tonne (23.17 MT). In the second quarter, it was 21.941 MT.
On a consolidated basis, the third-quarter net profit of the oil major stood at ₹9,224.85 crore (₹890.28 crore). Profit was ₹13,713.08 crore in the September quarter. Revenue from operations at ₹2,26,892.08 crore (₹2,32,303.20 crore) was lower year-on-year and higher sequentially. In the second quarter, Indian Oil had logged revenue of ₹2,05,283.03 crore.
