Indian Oil’s December quarter profit more than doubles on inventory gains
State-run refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd’s quarterly profit more than doubled, as the value of its inventory increased on the back of higher crude prices and margins rose at its petrochemical business.
An inventory gain is booked when oil prices rise when the company is refining and shipping petroleum products. Brent crude prices jumped 26.50% in the December quarter.
IOC, the country’s top refiner, posted net profit of 49.17 billion rupees ($673.75 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 23.39 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenue from operations rose to 1.47 trillion rupees.
India’s oil consumption has seen a V-shaped recovery since Covid-19 related restrictions were lifted and oil product sales are expected to reach pre-Covid-19 levels in the last quarter of financial year 2020-21, Chairman S M Vaidya said on a conference call.
