Public sector refining major Indian Oil’s profit in the September 2017 quarter grew 18 per cent y-o-y to ₹3,696 crore. This was aided by higher sales volumes; domestic sales rose to 19 million tonne from 18.46 million tonnes in the year-ago period, while exports rose to 1.877 million tonnes from 1.23 million tonnes. This helped the company’s revenue rise about 10 per cent, more than offsetting the pressure on gross refining margin, which fell to $6.08 a barrel during April-September 2017 from $7.19 a barrel in the year-ago period.

Unlike the June 2017 quarter when a big inventory loss took a toll, the company benefited in the September 2017 quarter from a small inventory gain. What also helped was a write back of provision of about ₹2,800 crore.

The stock though fell about 5 per cent, after the results were declared on Friday as the profit growth was below market expectation.

Related Topics