BPCL Q2 Profit Drops 72% on Lower Refining Margins

New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Friday reported a steep 72 per cent drop in net profit in the September quarter, as refinery margins fell and marketing margins shrunk.

BPCL reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,297.23 crore in July-September -- the second quarter of the current fiscal-- compared to a profit of Rs 8,243.55 crore a year back, according to a stock exchange filing by the company.

Net profit also declined sequentially, when compared to an earning of Rs 2,841.55 crore in the April-June period.

Revenue from operations was almost unchanged at Rs 1.17 lakh crore in the second quarter when compared to Rs 1.16 lakh crore a year back.

The company and other state-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) -- had last year made extraordinary gains from holding petrol and diesel prices despite a drop in cost.

The price freeze was justified in the name of recovering losses BPCL and the other two retailers had suffered in the previous year when they did not raise retail prices despite a surge in cost.

The gains arising from the price freeze were eroded with petrol and diesel prices being cut by Rs 2 per litre each just before general elections were announced. This together with a drop in product cracks or margins on relatively stable crude oil prices led to a fall in profits.

Cracks -- the difference between raw material crude oil and final product price -- have shrunk from highs of 2022-23.