State-owned fuel retailers delivered bumper profits in the April–June quarter as steady pump prices boosted petrol and diesel marketing margins, offsetting losses from falling crude oil inventories.Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) together posted a combined net profit of Rs 16,184 crore in Q1 of FY26 — more than two-and-a-half times higher than a year earlier, according to regulatory filings, PTI reported.BPCL led the pack with a net profit of Rs 6,124 crore, ahead of IOC’s Rs 5,689 crore despite being only half its size. HPCL earned Rs 4,371 crore in the quarter.Refining performance also favoured BPCL, which reported a gross refining margin (GRM) of $4.88 per barrel compared to $2.15 for IOC and $3.08 for HPCL. Its refinery run rate stood at 118% of installed capacity, against IOC’s 107% and HPCL’s 109%.The company outperformed rivals in sales efficiency as well, selling 153 kilolitres of fuel per outlet per month compared with IOC’s 130 kl in Q1.According to brokerage ICICI Securities, fuel retailers earned margins of Rs 10.3 per litre on petrol (up from Rs 4.4 a year earlier) and Rs 8.2 per litre on diesel (up from Rs 2.5). The extraordinary marketing margin came even as input crude oil prices dropped 21% and global product benchmarks fell 16–18%.The gains helped offset heavy inventory losses, with IOC alone booking Rs 6,465 crore in Q1, compared with a gain of Rs 3,345 crore last year. Adjusted for this, IOC’s GRM would have been $6.91 per barrel, up from $2.84 a year ago. HPCL reported a Rs 2,000 crore inventory loss in the quarter.Losses on LPG sales remained unresolved as subsidy reimbursements are yet to be finalised. Though the government has announced a Rs 30,000 crore package to cover cooking gas under-recoveries, the firms continued to bear the burden in Q1 — Rs 3,719 crore for IOC, Rs 2,076 crore for BPCL and Rs 2,148 crore for HPCL.
