Essar Oil

Essar Oil was a victim of lower crude prices resulting in a poor Q4FY15 performance. Its net profit came in 45% (YoY) lower a Rs.546 crore and total income was also down 38% at Rs.15,609 crore. The dip in revenues is mainly due to lower crude oil price, which fell by about 50% as compared to Q4FY14. As against Q3, quarter, crude prices were down by about a third. Forex loss for the quarter rose from Rs.314 crore to Rs.349 crore – this plus lower topline dented the bottomline. EBITDA was down 13% at Rs.1804 crore.  Current Price Gross Refining Margin (CP GRM) for Q4FY15 though was highest ever at $10.41/bbl against $10.12/bbl (YoY).

During the quarter, Vadinar Refinery processed 5.12 MMT of crude, Vs 5.05 MMT during the same period last year, up 1.4%. Refinery processed 94% of Heavy and Ultra Heavy crude in its crude diet during Q4FY15, against 88% in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The company ended FY15 on a good note. It posted its highest ever PAT at Rs 1,521 crore Vs Rs 126 crore in  FY14. EBITDA was at Rs 5,761 crore Vs Rs 4,781 crore in  FY14. FY15 recorded the highest ever throughput at  20.49 MMT Vs  20.23 MMT. Retail volume more than doubled with some 1,500 retail outlets now operational, with another 1,400 under implementation. Essar Oil retail sales now account for 8% of its revenues (during Q4FY15) against 2% in FY14. Its FY15 Current Price Gross Refining Margin (CP GRM) was at $8.37 /bbl Vs $7.98/bbl in FY14. The company’s interest outgo was down 26% at Rs.2565 crore and debt stands at around Rs.25,000 crore.