By Dominick Rodrigues 

Mumbai : Unaffected by the global pandemic, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) recorded its highest-ever Profit after Tax (PAT) of Rs. 10,664 crore during FY 20-21, as compared to Rs. 2,637 crore in the previous year. 

Gross sales for FY 20-21 was Rs. 2,69,243 crore as compared Rs. 2,86,250 crore during the previous year. Profit after Tax for the quarter January –March 2021 is Rs. 3,018 crore, as compared to Rs 27 crore for the same quarter last year, while gross sales for the period January-March 2021 is Rs. 84,905 crore as compared to Rs 71,268 crore for the same period last year.  

HPCL reported consolidated PAT of Rs. 10,663 crore during 2020-21, as against Rs. 2,639 crore during previous financial year. Enhanced profitability was a result of robust operational performance, improvement in refinery margins helped by inventory gains and favorable exchange rate variations. 

During 2020-21, HPCL refineries at Mumbai and Visakh achieved combined refining thruput of 16.42 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) with capacity utilization of 104%. Effective crude sourcing plans, optimizing day to day crude run rate, efficient logistics management and regulating product procurements from other sources enabled HPCL to achieve more than 100% capacity utilization in Refineries inspite of overall demand contraction. The refinery thruput for the quarter Jan – Mar 2021 was 4.39 million metric tonnes. 

During the year, HPCL achieved sales volume of 36.59 MMT compared to previous year’s sales of 39.64 MMT. HPCL registered market share gain for transport fuels and recorded the least de-growth of 6.6% in domestic sales among the industry, besides Industry de-growth for 2020-21 being 8.4 % compared to the previous year. HPCL continued to be India’s largest lube marketer and second largest LPG marketer during the year. 

To further enhance its presence across the value chain of natural gas business, HPCL acquired the balance 50% stake held by M/s SP Ports Pvt. Ltd. in the Joint Venture Company HPCL Shapoorji Energy Pvt Ltd (HSEPL) and accordingly, effective 30th March 2021, HSEPL has become a wholly owned subsidiary of HPCL. The company was incorporated to set up and operate a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Chhara, Gujarat. The construction work for Chhara LNG terminal is in full swing. 

During the year 2020-21, HPCL commissioned 2,158 new retail outlets which is the highest in a year taking the number of total retail outlets to 18,634. HPCL also commissioned 112 new LPG distributorships, taking the number of total LPG distributors to 6,192 as of 31st March, 2021. 

Towards ensuring availability of alternate fuels and offering more choices to customers, CNG dispensing facilities were provided at 203 retail outlets, taking total number of outlets dispensing CNG to 674 as of March 2021. EV Charging facilities were provided at 84 retail outlets. To meet the requirement of select customers for getting diesel delivered at their premises, total 387 Mobile Dispensers are commissioned as of March 2021. 

During 2020-21, HPCL added its 51st LPG bottling plant at Rayagada in Odisha with 60 TMTPA capacity and augmented its bottling capacity at various other existing LPG bottling plants by about 270 TMTPA. HPCL also commissioned LPG Master Godown with 36,600 cylinder storage capacity at Phey village in Leh, Ladakh to meet the winter demand of LPG in the area. Supply infrastructure was further strengthened with addition of Madurai Railway Siding facility in Tamil Nadu and new POL Depot at Hissar in the state of Haryana. Work on CGD projects in various geographical areas authorised to HPCL and its JVs are in progress. 

The global pandemic caused significant demand contraction in the year’s first quarter, that was followed by a smart recovery in the later part of the year — leading to an aggregate demand contraction for the petroleum products of about 9% in 2020-21 over the previous year.  

While the already-volatile crude oil market witnessed sharp price fluctuations on the back of demand contraction, inventory overhang and efforts by major oil producers to regulate supplies, the pandemic posed new challenges related to business continuity, supply chain management and concerns related to health and safety of the workforce. 

HPCL’s efforts through these tumultuous times included ensuring uninterrupted supplies of essential commodities like cooking gas and transport fuels length and breadth of the country while ensuring safety of its workforce.