Bharat Petroleum Posts Consolidated Profit of 4,863.05 Crore Rupees, Down 21.5%
Key Facts
India’s Bharat Petroleum reported consolidated net profit of 4,863.05 crore rupees for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, down 21.5% from the same period in the previous fiscal year, according to results reported by Business Standard. The figure highlights a year-on-year decline in earnings, despite the company returning to profit compared with the first quarter ended in June. The company recorded consolidated profit of 6,191.49 crore rupees in the second quarter of fiscal 2025-26. For the six months from April to September 2026, consolidated net profit was 2,990.35 crore rupees, compared with 13,030.51 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier, a decline of 77%, according to Moneycontrol. The first-half total shows that earnings pressure extended beyond the standalone quarter’s result.
The company said the decline in profit during April-September was mainly due to a squeeze in marketing margins on some petroleum products, while higher refining margins offset part of the pressure. This came as average global Brent crude prices rose about 40% during the September quarter, Reuters reported, amid supply disruptions linked to Middle East tensions. Reuters said higher crude prices put pressure on fuel marketing margins and weaken retail earnings when input costs rise before realized prices. This dynamic affects refining and marketing companies that buy crude and sell fuel, as higher crude costs can limit marketing returns even when refining activity improves. The company had said higher refining margins provided a partial, not complete, offset to the impact of weaker margins on some products.
Consolidated expenses rose to 1.52 trillion rupees in the second quarter, up 32.8%, Reuters reported, while the cost of raw materials consumed jumped 44.2%. A comparison of expenses shows they stood at 1.66 trillion rupees in the first quarter of fiscal 2026-27 and 1.15 trillion in the second quarter of the previous year, according to The Economic Times. This places the increase in expenses in the context of the annual profit decline, with the comparison differing between the previous quarter and the year-earlier period. Higher expenses do not negate the improvement in some operating indicators, but they came alongside higher crude costs and squeezed marketing margins. Cost pressure was therefore among the factors the company cited to explain the weak first-half result.
Operationally, refinery production rose 6% year on year to 10.41 million tonnes in the second quarter, according to Business Standard. Domestic sales also increased 6.33% to 13.47 million tonnes, while exports rose 64% during the period. These figures show growth in production and sales volumes alongside a year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit. In liquefied petroleum gas, cumulative unrecovered dues stood at 17,334.40 crore rupees on September 30, compared with 12,318.52 crore on March 31, according to The Economic Times. The increase in dues reflects a rise in amounts related to gas sales that had not been recovered by the end of September.
Business Standard reported that the company recognized six government compensation installments during the reporting period for losses on liquefied petroleum gas sales, totaling 3,796.98 crore rupees, and recorded them under revenue from operations. This came as unrecovered dues remained outstanding at the end of September, placing recognized compensation and outstanding amounts in the same context for the cooking gas business. The comparison between quarterly profit and the first-half total shows that the quarterly improvement does not erase the substantial annual decline in results for the period from April to September. On projects, the coverage indicates the establishment of a project company for the Ramayapatnam refinery and the start of the pre-investment decision feasibility stage, with no additional quantitative details in the available facts. The project’s next step remains tied to completing the feasibility study before an investment decision is made.