BPCL profit more than doubles to Rs 6,478 cr in Q4

New Delhi: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Monday said its net profit more than doubled in the March quarter on the back of a recovery in fuel marketing margins and better refining margins.

BPCL reported standalone net profit of Rs 6,478 crore in the January-March quarter compared to Rs 2,501 crore in the same period a year back, according to a company’s stock exchange filing.

The jump in fourth-quarter net profit helped the company post Rs 1,870.10 crore of net profit for the full fiscal year 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) by negating the losses the firm had to suffer in the first half of the financial year from holding petrol, diesel and LPG prices despite a surge

in cost.

BPCL and other state-owned fuel retailers continue to hold prices but a fall in international oil prices has meant that they are now making healthy margins.

Petrol and diesel prices have been on a freeze since April 6 last year. The basket of crude oil that India imports was over $100 per barrel in April last year and is now less than $75.

Crude oil is processed in refineries such as ones owned by BPCL into fuel.

While the prices have fallen, the three state-owned firms continue to hold rates to recoup losses suffered in the first half of the fiscal year.