Operating Income at Rs 1,01,307 crore
By TN Ashok Economics Editor
New Delhi, Aug 13 : State owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) reported a net profit of Rs 6,436 crore in the first quarter (Q1) ending June in FY 2015-16 as against Rs 2,523 crore in same period last year.
IOCL’s operating income stood at Rs 1,01,307 crore in the first quarter of FY 2015-16 against Rs 1,24,957 crore in the corresponding period in FY 2014-15.
IOCL’s Chairman and Managing Director B Ashok told pressmen today that the increase in net profit during Q1 of the curnt year vis-vis the same quarter of the last year was mainly attributable to increased refining and petrochemical margins.
Indian Oil, he said, sold 20.478 million tonnes of products, including exports during April June 2015 . “ Our refinery throughput for Q1 2015-16 was 13.568 million tonnes and throughput of the corporations countrywide pipelines network was 18.955m million tonnes during the same period, he said.
Giving details about the performance of the company, Ashok said, the average gross refining margin for the quarte3r april to june 2015 was US$ 10.77 per bbl against US 2.25 per bbl achieved in April June 2014.
The iOCL chairman pointed out that in line with scheme formulated by7 Petrleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) , the company had received during the quarter April to June 2015 discounts of Rs 878.84 crore on crude oil /products purchased from ONGC/OIL/CPCL toward under recovery suffered on sale of SKO(PDS) (April June 2014 Rs 8017.21 crore on sale of HSD, SKO, and LPG domestic. and the same had been adjusted against the purchase cost.
IOCL accounted for budgetary support of RS 1732.95 crore during the quarter april june 2015 toward under recovery on sale of sko in pds ( april to june 2014 rs 6075.63 crore on sale of hsd, sko, pds and lpg domestic as revenue grants included in net sales/incoe from operations.
The company suffered a a net under realisation of rs 1.51 crore durng the quarter april to june 2015 ion sale of ( april june 2014 rs 1145.50 crore on sale of HSD SKO Pds and LPG domestic.
Other income for april june 2014 included Rs 745.40 ccrore as income on forward contract transactions under RBI forex swap window for public sector oil companies.
Asked how long he reckoned that the oil slump would continue in the international market, Ashok said that it was difficult to put a figure or a time frame but crude oil prices would continue to decline for some time but trough out later. crude prices have dipped from the historic high of over US$100 per bbl last year to now US$62 per bbl . Its expected that with Iran signing the nuclear deal with US and other western nations, sanctions being lifted, oil could flow from this country soon further depressing prices in a market already facing a severe glut.
The glut was triggered by lesser off-take of crude in the international market following a slump in the economies of several European nations and USA’s lesser dependence on imports as it indulged in a cutback on imports and increased emphasis on locally produced oil and gas from shale gas reserves.
The IOCL chairman pointed out that bulk of oil imported from the gulf came from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company , more popularly known as ADNOC.
Detailing about money spent on retail networks, Ashok said iocl had strengthened its retail network with over 25,000 outlets across the country. It had a steady growth and was not affected by any competiton from private players such as Essar, Reliance or Total.
IOCL spent about Rs 1,000 crore on retail outlet development last year, Ashok said adding in the rural areas 6,500 outlets had been opened and 13% of the buzsiness came from rural areas. Also, equipping rural retail outlets with solar power helped to ensure business continued uninterrupted even during power cuts.
