HPCL swings into net profit of Rs 46 cr in Q1

The company posted a loss of Rs 1,460 cr in the same period a year ago

State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has Rs 46 crore as profit after tax for the period April-June, 2014 against a loss of Rs 1,460 crores for April-June, 2013.

This is primarily because of growth in domestic sales, lower interest costs and exchange variation gains as compared to losses during the corresponding quarter of last year, the company said in a press statement.

Total income from operations for the company was up 14% at Rs 59,215.8 crore against Rs 51,763.8 crore for the corresponding previous quarter.

HPCL accounted for Rs 2516.4 crore towards under-recoveries on sale of sensitive petroleum products for the first quarter of this fiscal. Under-recoveries for April-June 2013 stood at Rs 1,822 crore.

The domestic sales of petroleum products increased to 8.05 million tonnes registering a growth of above 3.3% over the first quarter of previous year, as against the industry average growth of 2.6%.

While the sales of motor spirit (Petrol) increased by 9.4%, sales of aviation turbine fuel grew by 10.4% and that of high speed diesel by 0.6%, over the first quarter of previous year.
 
The refineries at Mumbai and Visakh (Visakhapatnam) processed 3.28 million tonnes of crude during April - June, 2014 as against 3.44 million tonnes during April - June, 2013.

The throughput for the quarter was lower in current quarter due to planned shut-down at both the refineries. The combined Gross refining margin during the quarter was $2.04 per barrel.

During the quarter, the company commissioned diesel hydro treater at Mumbai Refinery at a cost of about Rs 2,000 crores. The company said four new pipelines are also under implementation -  Rewari - Kanpur;  Uran – Chakan/ Shikrapur for LPG; Mangalore - Hassan - Mysore for LPG and  Awa – Salawas. The physical progress achieved in all these pipelines as of June, 2014, are on schedule, the company said.

Ahead of the result announcement, HPCL shares were up 2.78% at Rs 408.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Results were announced post market hours.