BPCL Q1 results: Consolidated net profit falls 73% to Rs 2,842 crore

Gross refining margins fell to $7.86 per barrel even as market sales rose

State-owned oil marketing company (OMC) BPCL on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,841.5 crore in the April-June quarter (Q1) of FY25, recording a 73.2 per cent dip compared to Rs 10,644 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY24. Sequentially, the OMC saw its net profit fall by 40.6 per cent from Rs 4,789.5 crore registered in the preceding quarter.

Revenue from operations in Q1FY25 shrank marginally by 0.1 per cent to Rs 1.28 trillion, while total expenses rose by 8.5 per cent to Rs 1.25 trillion.

The reduction in net profit in Q1 may have come due to lower gross marketing margins on petrol and diesel. Margins had reduced to an average of Rs 6.8 per barrel (/bbl), down from Rs 9.3/bbl in the preceding quarter, according to a note by Elara Securities.

Average gross refining margin (GRM) of BPCL for Q1FY25 came in at $7.86 per barrel as against $12.64 in Q1FY24. GRM is the amount that refiners earn from turning every barrel of crude oil into refined fuel products.

Meanwhile, market sales of the state refiner for the quarter was 13.16 million metric tonnes (MMT), as compared to 12.75 MMT in the corresponding period of FY24, registering a growth of 3.22 per cent, the OMC said.

The throughput was 10.11 MMT, down from 10.36 MMT in Q1 FY24.

"We have achieved our highest-ever average ethanol blending percentage of 14.14 per cent during the quarter,” the OMC said.

BPCL added 171 new fuel stations in Q1FY25, taking their network strength to 22,011. Five new distributors were also added, taking LPG distributor network strength to 6,255. Its customer base increased to 9.33 crore, the OMC said.

Despite the dip in profits in the latest quarter, BPCL had seen its consolidated annual net profit zoom 1,160 per cent to a record high of Rs 26,858.84 crore in FY24, up from Rs 2,131.05 crore in FY23. Continuous discounts on an increasing volume of Russian crude supplies is widely understood to be behind this.