• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Q3 net at Rs 1,059 cr; losing Rs 40 cr per day on fuel sales

RISING PROFITS: Mr Sarthak Behuria (left), Chairman, IOC, and Mr S.V. Narasimhan, Director (Finance), at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday. — Kamal Narang

Advertisement

New Delhi Jan. 29 Aided by a generous inflow of oil bonds, Indian Oil Corporation has clocked a net profit of Rs 1,059 crore during the third quarter of the current fiscal ended December 31, 2006, compared to a loss of Rs 6 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

For the nine months ended December 2006, IndianOil's net profit stood at Rs 5,890 crore.

The factors responsible for the boost in financial performance for the nine-month period were oil bonds coupled with stake sale of ONGC.

Profits for the quarter were higher due to accounting of oil bonds towards under-recoveries on the four petroleum products — liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene, petrol and diesel, according to Mr S. Behuria, Chairman, IndianOil.

Last year, bonds were issued towards the end of the financial year and hence were not accounted, he explained. The company has received approvals for oil bonds worth Rs 2,533 crore during current third quarter.

Profit for April-December 2006 also includes Rs 3,225 crore earned as profit on sale of 20 per cent ONGC equity.

Speaking to newspersons after the board meeting, Mr Behuria said the under-recovery on all four products for the three quarters of the current fiscal has declined to Rs 3,524 crore from Rs 8,106 crore reported in the corresponding period last year. This was after considering the approval received by the Government for issuance of oil bonds of Rs 2,533 crore in addition to special oil bonds of Rs 7,168 crore already received.

IndianOil's gross turnover for the third quarter moved up by 16.70 per cent to Rs 56,933 crore from Rs 48,785 crore.

For the nine-month period the company's gross turnover increased by 22.59 per cent to Rs 1,65, 230 crore from Rs 1,34,784 crore for the corresponding period last year.

Asked about the under recoveries, he said, "At present, we are incurring a loss of Rs 40 crore per day on fuel sales. Next month, this may come down to Rs 32-35 crore per day.'' The company was hopeful that losses on diesel sales would turn positive from February 1.

The company, at present, is making of Rs 1.89 per litre on petrol, but incurring 26 paise loss on diesel. The company was making a loss of Rs 14.89 per litre on sale of kerosene under the public distribution system (PDS) and about Rs 150 per cylinder on cooking gas

``These margins are based on the average of first fortnight of January. Based on the average price of second fortnight, we expect that margins on petrol will increase by Re 1 per litre and that on diesel will turn positive,'' Mr Behuria said.

On the company's gross refining margins (GRM), he said during the nine-month period ending December 31, 2006, GRM stood at $3.64 per barrel against $5.16 per barrel during April-December 2005, he said.

Related Stories:
IOC incurs Rs 5.8-cr loss in Q3
'Under realisation of petrol, diesel the main cause'

More Stories on : Financial Performance | Petroleum

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Accenture to make India its largest centre

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line