BPCL net drops 70% to Rs 145.7 cr

BS 200 SCORECARD

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has posted a 69.91 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 145.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 compared with Rs 484.3 crore in the same quarter ended December 31, 2003.

The company's total income has increased from Rs 12,172.9 crore in the third quarter ended December 2003 to Rs 16,627.2 crore in the quarter under review. The company's profits were affected owing to under recovery of cost on liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and superior kerosene oil (SKO).

A senior BPCL executive told Business Standard, "The company was mainly affected owing to subsidy on LPG and kerosene. The subsidy component on LPG and kerosene was close to Rs 785 crore after taking into account the contributions from the upstream companies like ONGC and GAIL."

For the nine months ended December 2004, the subsidy on LPG and SKO for BPCL is close to Rs 1,800 crore. The company's has recorded a net profit of Rs 614.4 crore during the nine months ended December 2004 compared with Rs 1,280.7 crore during the same period ended December 2003.

The refining margins during April-December 2004 stood at $5.22 a barrel compared with $3.36 a barrel for the nine months ended December 2003.