Indian Oil’s Q2 profit rise more than 40-times YoY fuelled with better refining margins, lower base

State-owned refiner Indian Oil’s net profit rose more than forty-times (or 4,128%) on a year-over-year (YoY) basis, to ₹7,610.45 crore in the September-end quarter fuelled by better refining margins and a lower base effect. The company’s average gross refining margin, which is among the primary indicators of profitability, rose about 55% to $6.32 for each barrel in the second quarter this year from $4.08 per barrel in the corresponding period last year.

The refiner had registered a profit of ₹180 crore in the second quarter last year on the back of inventory losses and reduced refining margins affected by lower cracks which were largely in line with global trends globally back then.

Overall, the refiner’s revenue in the September-end quarter increased 4.07% to about ₹2.04 lakh crore. This is primarily fuelled by domestic sales in the second quarter also increased 4.2% to 22,851 million metric tonnes (MMT).

Refineries throughput also recorded an uptick of 5.2% at 17.608 from the corresponding quarter last year.

On Monday (October 27), scrips of Indian Oil closed 3.19% up at ₹155.15 apiece on the BSE, and 3.23% up at ₹155.23 apiece on the NSE. Refining peers Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are scheduled to present their quarterly earning later this week.