CPCL net nearly doubles
New Delhi   16-May-2008
Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL), a group company of IndianOil, has nearly doubled its net profit to Rs. 1,122.95 crore in the year ended March 31, 2008 from Rs. 565.27 crore in the previous year. The turnover at Rs. 32,889.32 crore against Rs. 29,349 crore was the highest ever achieved by the company, according to S. Behuria, Chairman of the company. Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Behuria said the company could achieve a gross refining margin of $8.47 per barrel for 2007-08 (net of recoveries) against $5 in the previous year. In fact the gross refining margin was $9.59 in the last quarter of 2007-08, he said. The directors have recommended a final dividend of 120 per cent. An interim of 50 per cent was already paid taking the total dividend to 170 per cent. The gross throughput was 10.26 million tonnes with the Manali Refinery contributing 9.80 million tonnes. Crude throughput at Cauvery Basin Refinery (CBR) was lower due to restricted availability of crude from Narimanam oil field of ONGC and the PY-3 field operated by Hardy Oil and Gas, according to K. K. Acharya, Managing Director of CPCL. As a step towards reducing input cost, widening of crude oil basket is one of the main focus areas. During 2007-08, CPCL processed four new crudes and three more new crudes would be processed in the next three months, Mr. Acharya said. The project for augmenting capacity from 3 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes at Manali costing Rs. 134.34 crore is scheduled to be completed by middle of next year. A 20 MW gas turbine is being installed at a cost of Rs. 158 crore for reliability and self-sufficiency in power requirement.