HPCL Q1 net profit slumps 90% on fall in refining, fuel margin

New Delhi: State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Monday reported a massive 90 per cent drop in net profit in the June quarter, as refinery margins fell and a fuel price reduction slashed marketing margins.

HPCL reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 633.94 crore in April-June -- the first quarter of the current 2024-25 fiscal year -- compared to a profit of Rs 6,765.50 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 2,709.31 crore in the January-March period.

Pre-tax earnings from downstream fuel retailing businesses slumped 90 per cent to Rs 907.86 crore.

The company and other state-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat 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 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 fall in profits.

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

HPCL earned USD 5.03 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the quarter under review, as compared to a gross refining margin of USD 7.44 per barrel in the same period last year.