IndianOil Corp Q3: IndianOil net doubles to ₹4,917 crore on

NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corp’s quarterly profit more than doubled from a year earlier on inventory and foreign exchange gains and higher petrochemicals margins.

Net profit for the October-December quarter rose to ₹4,917 crore from ₹2,339 crore a year earlier. Revenue rose 1 per cent to ₹1,46,599 crore. The company did not provide details of inventory gains or margins.

The profit for the nine months ended December 31 also doubled to ₹13,055 crore. The gross refining margin during April – December was $2.96 per barrel, down from $3.34 per barrel in the year-ago period.

Oil demand will rise above pre-Covid-19 levels in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year and cross financial year 2020 demand levels in FY22, IOC chairman SM Vaidya said.

The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine and increased economic activity will drive oil demand, he said.

The company also unveiled a plan to build a 9 million tonne per annum (mtpa) refinery in Tamil Nadu for ₹31,500 crore, signalling its optimism about the future of oil demand in the country.

The refinery will be set up on the 618 acres of land already owned by IOC subsidiary Corp (CPCL) in Nagapattinam, Vaidya said.

The refinery will be developed through a joint venture in which Indian Oil and CPCL will own 25 per cent equity each while the balance 50 per cent stake will be given away to strategic and financial investors, Indian Oil finance chief Sandeep Gupta said.

“We should be able to raise funds for which banks have sufficient appetite,” said Gupta. IOC’s debt-equity ratio stands at 0.66.

The recent wave of climate change activism and the rise of renewables have shaken investor faith in the oil business globally and are increasingly curbing financing for fossil fuel projects. While many international oil majors aim to cut their current refining capacity, Indian firms are planning to add new refineries.