State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Thursday reported its March quarter net profit soaring many folds to Rs 3,018 crore on the back of inventory gains and rise in refining margins. The company had a net profit of Rs 27 crore in January-March 2020.

Speaking with CNBC-TV18 on results, MK Surana, CMD of the company said that there is a 20 percent decline in demand in May as compared to April.

“In May, because of the localised lockdowns in various parts of the country, there was a dip in the demand. But I hope that with the positive trends emerging of the pandemic in some of the major states which suffered a lot and aggressive vaccination program, things should get back faster. There are some extension of lockdowns in some states, but we hope that by June things should be improving,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

On a normalised basis, however, Surana said that there is a dip of around 30 percent.

“If we compare to May 2020, it is more by almost 28 percent in petrol and 6 percent in diesel because last year May was a complete lockdown. On a normalised basis if we compare it, let us say May 2019, we have a dip of around 30 percent; May 2019 versus May 2021 on the motor spirit (MS) and high-speed diesel (HSD). Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is up around 15 percent,” he said.

He also said that last year the cracks and GRMs were quite low for MS and HSD, but it improved as the demand picked up in the US, Europe and Asia and the first wave of COVID receded.

Surana also said that according to projections Singapore's gross refining margins (GRMs) should improve hereon.

“Right now the Singapore GRMs as of May till date are in the range of USD 2.3/barrel which as compared to USD 0.53/barrel average of the last year, USD 1.78/barrel of Q4. The projections are that it should improve further here as the demand picks and the vaccination program gets underway in various parts of the country,” he said.

Surana also said that the company is not considering a buyback immediately and it has cash in books to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore.

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)