MUMBAI : State-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) today posted a consolidated loss of ₹1,819.6 crore for the quarter ended March 2020 on inventory loss and lower gross refining margin.
The second largest fuel retailer had reported a profit at ₹2,051.4 crore in previous quarter.
In a press statement the company said changes in inventories of finished goods, stock-in-trade and work-in-progress came in negative at ₹(3,036.42) crore during the quarter against ₹3,646.4 crore in previous quarter, following steep correction in global oil prices.
Company's gross refining margin or what it makes from turning every barrel of crude into finished product, came in at $2.50 per barrel against $4.58 per barrel during the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
Revenue from operations for the quarter stood at ₹68,997.8 crore, down 8% compared to ₹74,959.2 crore in December quarter 2019.
"The outbreak of covid-19 globally and resultant lockdown in many countries, including from March 25, 2020 in India, has had impact on the business of the Group," said BPCL.
Consequently lower demand for crude oil and petroleum products has impacted the prices and therefore refining margins globally.
"Due to this, certain finished goods inventory and certain raw materials of the Group have been valued at net realizable value/replacement costs which are lower than cost. The impact of the same has been reported under exceptional item for ₹1,310.35 crore," BPCL's accounting notes added.
Refiners across the world have been impacted after countries announced coronavirus-induced lockdown to control the spread of the pandemic. This led to benchmark Brent crude future losing 65% during March quarter to hit multi-year low of $22.74 a barrel due to fall in demand.
On Wednesday BPCL's scrip closed at ₹349.05, up 2.17% on the BSE.
The company was downgraded to negative by global rating agency Moody's on Tuesday after it downgraded India's sovereign rating to the lowest level, on Monday.
BPCL's crude throughput declined 0.23% sequentially to 8.39 million metric tonnes.
The company said that a full impact of the lockdown is yet to come. "The impact of covid-19 pandemic on the physical and financial performance of the company for the year 2019-20 was lesser as compared to the months of April and May 2020."
BPCL said there was a significant fall of 55% in demand for petroleum products during April. Even with relaxations in May, sales were lower by 30%
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