BPCL Profit Dips Amid Shrinking Margins

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd reported a significant 97.5% decline in net profit for the September quarter due to reduced refinery and marketing margins. The profit dropped from Rs 5,826.96 crore to Rs 142.67 crore. The fall was further exacerbated by a reduction in petrol and diesel prices.

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) experienced a dramatic 97.5% decline in net profits for the September quarter, with lower refinery margins and squeezed marketing margins hitting hard.

For July-September, BPCL recorded a consolidated net profit of only Rs 142.67 crore, a sharp drop from Rs 5,826.96 crore in the same period last year, as revealed in the company's stock exchange filing. This marks a sequential decrease from Rs 633.94 crore earned in the preceding April-June quarter.

Pre-tax earnings from the company's downstream fuel retailing plummeted to Rs 1,285.96 crore, starkly lower than Rs 6,984.60 crore recorded a year prior. Last year's substantial gains were driven by holding petrol and diesel prices firm despite cost reductions, but those were eroded when prices were slashed by Rs 2 per litre before general elections amidst steady crude oil prices.

(With inputs from agencies.)