IOC Q3 net at Rs 1,059 cr on account of oil bonds

New Delhi, Jan 29 (UNI) State-owned IndianOil Corporation (IOC) today posted a net profit of Rs 1,059.01 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 as compared to a net loss of Rs 6.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 on account of government issuing oil bonds.

''Last year, bonds were issued towards the end of the financial year and hence were not accounted,'' company's Chairman S Behuria told reporters here.

During April-December, IOC was granted oil bonds worth Rs 9,700 crore from the Government.

Profit for the period of April-December 2006 also included Rs 3,225 crore being profit on sale of 20 per cent of the ONGC equity, he added.

Presently, IOC is incurring a profit of Rs 1.89 on per litre of petrol, Re 0.26 loss on diesel and Rs 14.89 loss on kerosene.

While, the company is having a loss of Rs 150 per cylinder of domestic LPG, Mr Behuria said.

Behuria expected IOC to maintaind the profits in the next quarter if global crude oil prices continue to remain at current levels and government support in the form of oil bonds stay.

''The government will soon issue oil bonds worth Rs 5,000 crore to refiners, of which IOC's share will be Rs 2,500 crore,'' company's Finance Director S V Narasimhan told.

He said the company had accounted for these bonds in its July-September earnings.

The company gross refining margins in the third quarter (October-December) rose to 4.5 dollar a barrel from 3.4 dollar a barrel a year ago.

''IOC's daily revenue loss due to a cap in fuel prices is expected to drop to Rs 35 crore in the January-March quarter from Rs 40 crore,'' Mr Narasimhan said.

The company's total income increased to Rs 55,218.42 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006 from Rs 44,874.06 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005.

For the nine months ended December 2006, the Corporation's net profit was Rs 5,890 crore as against Rs 885 crore for the same period last year.

The group's turnover for the third quarter moved up by 16.7 per cent to Rs 56,933 crore from Rs 48,785 crore.

The under-recovery on all the four products for the three quarters of the current fiscal was Rs 3,524 crore, as compared to Rs 8,106 crore reported in the corresponding period last year.

Mr S Behuria said the Corporation sold 39.53 MT of products, including 2.45 MT exports sales during the nine months ending December 2006. The throughput of its refineries and pipelines network was 32.19 MT and 37.85 MT respectively for the same period, against 28.43 MT and 33.81 MT respectively over the same period last year.

UNI