Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. does not foresee any impact of a potential curb on imports of Russian oil given that CPCL has already secured the crude required for the next two months, said Managing Director H Shankar.
In an interview to NDTV Profit, Shankar said, “Today all of our crude orders are placed two months in advance, therefore the fresh requirement will not be coming up shortly, as of now up to mid September we are tied up with all our crude, I do not see any immediate requirement of sourcing the crude at this moment.”
Shankar also noted that the company has a basket of sources to secure crude, and it is not reliant on one source for its supplies.
“Over time, other crude opportunities are also available. Looking at the current scenarios, there are opportunities in the West African market for a steady flow.”
He further explained that CPCL itself does not source or procure the crude directly, but the parent company, Indian Oil, does the crude sourcing and procurement on its behalf. “Based on availability, the best available crude is supplied to us,” he explained.
Speaking about the company’s first-quarter results, Shankar said, “We have done well in Q1. Compared to last year, our core GRM is almost same, inventories have fluctuated, the stocks have seen phenomenal deviation. Crude prices have fluctuated between $60-78 dollar in last quarter – any standalone company cannot absorb such huge variation in crude price.”
The company reported a net loss of Rs 40 crore as against a net profit of Rs 484 crore for the same quarter last year. The firm’s revenue was down 8% to Rs 18,683 crore for the same period.
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