BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian Oil Corp Ltd, the country’s top refiner, on Monday reported a jump in its net profit for the third quarter, buoyed by higher refining margins.
The state-owned company’s net profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 19.2% to 58.61 billion rupees ($784.45 million), while revenue from operations climbed nearly 35% to 1.97 trillion rupees.
IOC, which also declared an interim dividend of four rupees per share, said its gross refining margin — profit from converting a barrel of oil into refined products — was $8.52 per barrel for April-December, compared with $2.96 a year ago.
For the third quarter, its product sales volumes, including exports, was 22.591 million tonnes.
Indian refiners’ crude oil throughput dipped slightly in December due to unit shutdowns at some refineries and weak fuel demand outlook from the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Refining throughput was 17.404 million tonnes during the quarter, IOC said.
India’s crude imports rebounded 3.9% to 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021, data from sources showed, but remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
The imports are expected to rise further this year as fuel demand recovers amid governments resisting lockdowns despite higher COVID-19 cases, with refiners’ margins seen staying strong.
IOC, along with its unit Chennai Petroleum, controls about a third of India’s five-million-barrels-per-day refining capacity.
The country’s other state-run refiners Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp reported a fall in quarterly profits on Monday.
($1 = 74.7150 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Uttaresh.V)
