Essar Oil in the black

CORPORATE SCORECARD

Essar Oil , the country's second largest private sector refiner, has registered a net profit of Rs 99 lakh for the fourth quarter ended March 31 compared with net losses of Rs 37.84 crore it incurred during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Essar Oil, which launched commercial operations of its 10.5 million tonne per annum refinery at Jamnagar during the last financial year, registered a net income of Rs 265.27 crore during the January-March quarter compared with Rs 81.64 crore sales income during the corresponding period in the previous financial year. The refinery is expected to work at full capacity by the end of the year.

The gross profit touched Rs 1.12 crore during the quarter against gross losses of Rs 37.31 crore during the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.

During the quarter, the construction work on CCR and NHT units of the refinery project was completed. The construction work on the balance secondary units is in progress.

The net losses for the financial year ended March 31, 2007, was down by 59.32 per cent at Rs 55.58 crore compared with Rs 93.68 crore registered in the previous year.