Inida: HPCL's Q3 Net Profit Up By 23%

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) has registered gross sales of Rs. 62,832-crore during Q3 (October-December), FY18 as compared to Rs. 55,471-crore for Q3 FY17. Quarterly Profit after Tax (PAT) increased to Rs. 1,950-crore (Rs. 1590-crore) due to better refinery margin on account of improved cracks & inventory gains. The refineries at Mumbai and Visakh processed 4.52-mt of crude during Q3 FY18 (4.66-mt).

The combined GRM during Q3 FY18 was $ 9.04 per barrel ($6.38), primarily due to improved distillate yield and better product cracks.

For the nine-month period of this fiscal, HPCL has recorded a PAT of Rs. 4,609-crore. Gross sales increased by 14.2% to Rs. 176,876-crore (Rs. 154,821-crore).

The refineries at Mumbai and Visakh processed highest ever throughput of 13.65-mt during the first nine months of FY18 (13.18-mt), registering a crude throughput growth of 3.6%. The combined GRM during the period increased to $7.51 per barrel ($5.57), primarily due to improvement in distillate yield and product cracks. Pipeline throughput increased to 14.87-mt (13.24-mt).

During April-December 2017, the domestic sales of petroleum products increased to 26.80-mt, with a growth of 3.4% over historical. The sales of Motor Spirit (Petrol) increased by 7.1%, Diesel (HSD) by 2.9%, LPG by 9.2% and Aviation turbine fuel by 7.7% over the corresponding period of previous financial year.

Leader in LPG and lubes

HPCL continues to be No.1 Lube Marketer of India and also the market leader in bulk LPG sales with ~49% market share as of December 2017. To improve the efficiency and safety in LPG transportation, first company owned LPG rake was rolled out under Liberalized Wagon Investment Scheme (LWIS) scheme of Ministry of Railways. To enhance space saving, safety and ease of handling in bulk LPG, an innovative fail-safe mechanism was developed and implemented to handle Sumo cylinders (425-kg LPG cylinder).

HPCL is also strengthening the global footprints of its lubricant business by setting up a subsidiary in Dubai for Lube marketing in Middle East and East African countries. In addition, Lube marketing activities have been commenced in Myanmar. To expand product reach to remote geographies, HPCL has commissioned a POL storage and handling facility at Indian Army’s Field Petroleum Depot (FPD) in Leh with storage of over 8,800-kl of MS/HSD/ SKO and special grade fuels. The facility is the single largest tankage addition for the Indian Army and is also one of the highest petroleum storage and loading facilities in the world. Aviation fuel infrastructure was strengthened with commissioning of Aviation Service Facilities at Vidyanagar & Jalgaon airports under Regional Connectivity Scheme.

Projects on track

HPCL is actively implementing the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) for empowering millions of poor women and creating a smokeless & healthy cooking environment in country. During April-December 2017, HPCL has released over 6.3-mn new domestic LPG connections, including over 3.5-mn PMUY connections.

The project activities for Visakh Refinery Modernization Project and Mumbai Refinery Expansion Project are on track. Process licensor selection and basic design engineering package have been completed and major contracts have been awarded for both the projects.

Large-scale pipeline expansion projects that are on track include:

>Mundra Delhi Pipeline (MDPL) capacity expansion;

>Extension line from Palanpur to Vadodara (PVPL) project including green field terminal at Vadodara;

>Visakh-Vijayawada-Secunderabad Pipeline (VVSPL) capacity expansion and OSTT-SS jetty sub-sea pipeline project; and

>Capacity expansion of Ramanmandi Bahadurgarh pipeline (RBPL).

In addition, the HPCL board has approved extension of the Visakh-Vijayawada-Secunderabad Pipeline (VVSPL) from Vijayawada to Dharmapuri and construction of a marketing terminal at Dharmapuri with a total project cost of Rs. 2,677-crore.

HPCL R&D has also developed a cost-effective lube additive, HP-DLA, for enhancing the lubricity of diesel and rolled it out at the Vizag refinery.