BPCL Q2 Results: Fuel Retailer Returns To Profit On Robust Marketing Margins

The net profit for the company for the quarter ended September in FY24 stood at Rs 8,243.55 crore, against a loss of Rs 338.49 crore registered for the corresponding period in FY23.

The state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) logged a return to profit in the second quarter of the current fiscal year after a boost in it’s marketing margin led to an improvement in earnings. The net profit for the company for the quarter ended September in the 2023-24 period (FY24) stood at Rs 8,243.55 crore, against a loss of Rs 338.49 crore registered for the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year (FY23), the company revealed via an exchange filing.

The PSU oil refining and marketing company credited the growth in profit to a boost in marketing margins after the revision in petrol and diesel prices was paused even as input crude oil prices declined. This helped the firm recover it’s losses incurred during last year when prices were on the higher end, reported PTI. 

The pre-tax earnings from the downstream oil refining and marketing business stood at Rs 11,283.29 crore in the reporting quarter in the current fiscal, against a loss of Rs 123.17 crore in the same period last year. Notably, government-owned fuel retailers BPCL, IOC, and HPCL last year froze prices even as global oil prices surged after Russia invaded Ukraine. This was done to shield the consumers from price volatility. 

However, this hold on prices led to the three companies incurring losses in the first half of the fiscal 2022-23 (FY23), wherein, BPCL took a hit of Rs 6,486.43 crore in the first six months of FY23. 

For the current fiscal, BPCL posted record earnings of Rs 18,887.85 crore in the first half of FY24. However, revenue for the firm declined to Rs 1.16 lakh crore in Q2FY24 against Rs 1.28 lakh crore in Q2FY23 due to lower oil prices. 

The gross refining margin for the firm stood at $15.42 per barrel, against $22.30 in the corresponding period last year. The gross refining margin represents the money earned by the firm on converting every barrel of crude oil into fuel. 

The standalone EBITDA for the company was Rs 13,679.21 crore in Q2FY24, against Rs 1,991.41 crore logged in the same quarter a year earlier. The refinery throughput was 9.35 million tonnes in the reporting period against 8.82 million tonnes on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.