IOC Q3 profit beats estimates, profit doubles to Rs 7,883 crore

The PSU booked higher inventory gains due to a sharp rise in global oil prices.

Indian Oil Corp Ltd said its third-quarter profit nearly doubled, handily beating estimates, as the company booked higher inventory gains due to a sharp rise in global oil prices.

Oil prices have rallied by more than 30 percent since OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to limit production from January 2017.

Net profit surged 97 percent to Rs 7,883 crore ($1.24 billion) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, well above the average estimate of Rs 5,143 crore, Thomson Reuters data showed. 

The company posted an inventory gain of Rs 6,301 crore on crude and refined products in the quarter compared with Rs 3,051 crore a year ago, said A K Sharma, director of finance, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Average gross refining margin (GRM) improved to $8.28 per barrel in the April-December period from $7.36 per barrel in the year-ago period, the country`s top refiner said.

Excluding inventory gains, the company posted GRM of $7.42 per barrel for the quarter compared to $5.10 per barrel a year ago, said Chairman Sanjiv Singh. 

Shares of the company rose as much as 5.7 percent, before closing up 4.2 percent in a broader Mumbai market that ended 0.73 percent lower. 

($1 = Rs 63.7300)