January 28, 2025 [Reuters]- Indian Oil Corp (IOC) the country’s top refiner, reported a smaller-than-expected third-quarter profit on Monday, hurt by lower marketing margins and losses in its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) segment.

The state-owned firm’s standalone net profit plunged 64.4% to 28.74 billion rupees ($332.9 million). Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 51.88 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG.

IOC’s average gross refining margin – the profit from making refined products from one barrel of oil – for the April-December period fell to $3.69 per barrel from $13.26 per barrel last year.

IOC does not provide quarterly margin numbers.

KEY CONTEXT

Fuel consumption in India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, ticked up during the quarter due to higher manufacturing and industrial activity.

However, IOC along with its peers HPCL and BPCL have been facing losses in the LPG segment as domestic prices remained unchanged even as raw material costs spiked.

Last week, HPCL and BPCL reported a smaller-than-expected profit growth for the third quarter, hurt by lower marketing margins and losses in the LPG segment.

Global crude oil prices rose 4% in the quarter.

Indian Oil, along with its unit Chennai Petroleum, controls about a third of India’s five million-barrel-per-day refining capacity.

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