Inventory and forex gains helped Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals ltd (MRPl) report a net profit of Rs1,067 crore in the fourth quarter of 2013-14.
MRPl, a unit of State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), had posted a net loss of Rs62 crore in January-March 2013, company Chairman Dinesh K Sarraf said on Tuesday.
The company clocked profits on the back of Rs 575 crore gain from rupee appreciating against the US dollar and an inventory gain of Rs 503 crore. MRPl earned $3.18 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel as compared to a gross refining margin of $1.98 a barrel.
"Going forward, GRMs are going to be higher because completion of expansion," Sarraf said.
Turnover rose by about 3 per cent to Rs 20,032 crore, he said adding the refinery processed 3.84 million tonnes in January-March, down from 4.12 million tonnes a year ago.
For full fiscal 2013-14, the company earned a net profit of Rs 601 crore as opposed to a loss of Rs179 crore.
Meanwhile Sarraf told media persons on the occasion that ONGC's decision to sue Reliance Industries ltd (RIl) for alleged "theft" of natural gas from its Bay of Bengal block, was to protect its "commercial interests".
ONGC had on May 15 moved the Delhi High Court alleging that RIl may have drawn natural gas worth thousands of crores of rupees from its fields that sit next to Mukesh Ambani-run firm's KG-D6 block Krishna Godavari basin.
"The matter (of RIl allegedly drawing gas from ONGC blocks) was brought to the notice of our board (in March). The board was of the view that we need to protect our commercial interest at all costs. If that requires any legal recourse, we will take that," Sarraf told reporters.
The state-owned firm wants a "truly independent" agency to examine the matter, and seeks compensation from RIl if it is established that the private firm drew gas from its reservoir.
ONGC had nine months back approached the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) with a request to share production and well data of KG-D6 field for analysing if the reservoir of the neighbouring field has same and continuous gas pool.
RIl has maintained that there exists uncertainties with regard to the possibility of channel extension, sand continuity as well as the connectivity.