Fuel consumption rose 2.9% in October, before surging 9.3% in November and increasing another 2.1% in December.India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) reported a lower-than-expected third-quarter profit on Wednesday, due to lower marketing margins and losses in its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) segment.
The state-owned company's standalone net profit rose about 37% to 46.49 billion rupees (USD 538.6 million) in the three months ended December 31. Analysts had expected a profit of 48.52 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.
The company, India's third-largest oil refiner by capacity, said its average gross refining margin for April-December fell to USD 5.95 per barrel from USD 14.72 per barrel a year earlier. BPCL does not give quarterly margin numbers.
Revenue from operations fell about 2% to 1.28 trillion rupees, after a 72.29 billion rupees hit to account for the difference between LPG cylinders' market-determined price and their subsidised selling price.
India, the world's No. 3 oil importer and consumer, saw increased fuel consumption last quarter due to holidays-related travel and a pickup in agricultural activity after a healthy monsoon.
Fuel consumption rose 2.9% in October, before surging 9.3% in November and increasing another 2.1% in December.
However, since March, the three Indian refiners - Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL - have been hurt by losses in the cooking gas or LPG segment as the government kept domestic LPG prices unchanged even as raw material costs spiked.
