Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) said that it was finding it difficult to import from Tehran due to international sanctions.
The company’s import from Iran is already down 31 per cent in July-September quarter from the April-June period of 1.04 million tonnes, MRPL’s Finance Director Vishnu Agrawal said at a news conference.
“The insurance and shipping problems are still there. They are under resolution,” Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva said.
Vasudeva said there was no impact on refining operations due to lower-than-expected imports from Iran as the refiner was sourcing crude from spot market. He said MRPL had set a target to cut imports from Iran to 5 million tonnes in the current financial year from 7 million tonnes, it was sourcing two years back.
Meanwhile, the company released the unaudited results for the second quarter of this fiscal.
The company’s net profit registered a massive jump for the September quarter at Rs 1,185 crore from Rs 24 crore in the year-ago period.
It also reported a substantially higher gross refining margin (GRM) of $9.19 per barrel ($4.80 per barrel).
“This year’s GRM has been higher on account of increased throughput and distillate yield, favourable movement of rupee against dollar and availability of higher cracks in the market for diesel, petrol and air turbine fuel,” the release said.
Turnover increased 38 per cent during the September quarter, at Rs 17,148 crore against Rs 12,392 crore during the earlier period.
Further, the company’s export turnover also registered a jump of 42 per cent to Rs 7,474 crore, up from Rs 5,245 crore in the year-ago quarter.