IndianOil borrowings drop 19% from Sept peak
New Delhi   14-Jan-2009
The borrowings of the country's largest public sector oil marketing company IndianOil has come down by 19.4% from its peak in September due to falling crude oil prices and lower demand for petroleum products. Mr. S V Narasimhan, director -finance, IndianOil, said, "Our borrowings have come down to Rs 54,000 crore currently from the peak of Rs 67,000 crore in September 2008." He said after global crude prices rose to $147 a barrel in July last year, IndianOil's borrowings touched a high in September. The borrowings stood at Rs 60,000 at the start of the third quarter and were likely to come down further, he said. Narasimhan said the company was making profit on petrol and diesel sale, but was incurring losses in LPG and kerosene. "Things have changed, a lot from January and the company is comfort-able at this price level of crude," he said. He said IndianOil was unlikely to import diesel during the current financial year. "The growth in diesel consumption has come down to 5 % from average 11% in December," he said. Diesel is the’ largest sold fuel in India. The oil officers' and truckers' strike during January would also hit sales figures for the month. "We are expecting negative growth hi demand and consumption for January," he said. The company has sold Rs 8,000 crore of oil bonds given to it by the government for selling fuel at a rate cheaper than the market price. The average gross refining margin at IndianOil's seven refineries stood at $4-5 per barrel, he said. Despite pressure on margins, the growth plans of the company are on track, including implementation of the 15 million tonne per annum Paradip refinery by the first half of 2012. It is currently re-working the cost of the Rs 30,000-crore refinery and expects to achieve financial closure by the end of January or early February IndianOl completed 10,000 kilometres of crude and product pipeline network in December.