BPCL Q3 results: Net profit falls 36% to Rs 1,747 cr, revenue up 13%

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,747 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2022 (Q3FY23), getting back into the black after two consecutive quarters of loss reported in the July-September and April-June periods. But Q3 net profit was down 36.7 per cent versus the year-ago period, when the bottom line came in at Rs 2,758.89 crore. 

Consolidated revenue from operations in Q3 rose 13.67 per cent to Rs 1.33 trillion as against Rs 1.17 trillion reported in the same quarter last year. In Q2, the company had reported a revenue of Rs 1.28 trillion, while in Q1 of FY23, revenue was higher at Rs 1.38 trillion.

The company’s refining throughput during the quarter stood at Rs 9.39 million metric tonnes (MMT) as against 9.94 MMT in the year-ago period. 

BPCL's market sales for the December quarter stood at 12.81 MMT versus 11.21 MMT reported last year. 

The average gross refining margin (GRM) of BPCL for the nine months ended December 31, 2022 came in at $20.08 per barrel as against $6.98 a barrel during the April-December 2021 period, the company said.

Market sales of the state refiner for the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal year was 36.01 MMT as compared to 30.69 MMT for the nine months ended December 31, 2021. The increase was mainly due to aviation turbine fuel (71.77 per cent), high speed diesel-retail (28.5 per cent) and MS (Motor Spirit or petrol)-Retail (19.97 per cent), the company said.

Other expenses for the nine months ended 31 December, 2022 includes Rs 1,695.69 crore on account of foreign exchange loss as against Rs 5.43 crore reported in April-December 2021 period, BPCL said.

The marketing under-recovery of oil marketing companies have been hurt by retail prices that have remained static since April last year, experts said.

Stagnant retail prices, in tandem with volatile crude oil prices, have hurt OMCs' margins as they have struggled to recover costs from importing and refining crude oil.

On Monday, BPCL shares closed trade down 0.49 per cent at Rs 335 apiece on the BSE. In the last one year, the stock has declined nearly 16 per cent on the BSE, even as the benchmark BSE Sensex has risen 2.56 per cent.