BPCL Q4 net drops 82% on losses due to holding fuel prices

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) on Wednesday reported an 82% decline in net profit to ₹2,130.53 crore for the quarter ended March as the firm held retail prices of fuel despite a rise in cost.

Revenue from operations rose 25% to ₹1.23 lakh crore on higher oil prices but losses on petrol, diesel and domestic LPG sales dented the financials.

BPCL and other public sector oil companies held petrol and diesel prices for a record duration despite a surge in the cost of crude oil to a 14-year high. Oil marketing firms began raising fuel prices from March 22 but ceased within 16 days.

Even after an increase of ₹10 per litre in petrol and diesel prices between March 22 and April 6, oil companies continued to make losses as international crude oil prices remained above $100 per barrel.

Cooking gas LPG too witnessed the same trend, where prices were raised by ₹50 per cylinder on March 22; but this was not enough to cover the gap between the cost of production and the sale price.

Another increase of of ₹50 a cylinder was announced on May 7 and rates went up by ₹3.50 last week.

BPCL said refinery throughput was lower at 8.12 million tonnes in the January-March quarter compared with 8.39 million tonnes a year earlier. Market sales, however, rose to 11.82 million tonnes from 11.17 million tonnes.

For FY22, BPCL’s net profit dropped to ₹9.076.50 crore from ₹19,110.06 crore.

The firm earned $9.09 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in FY22, up from $4.06 per barrel gross refining margin in the previous fiscal.