2020-21 has been an eventful year. Outbreak of a global pandemic led to significant demand contraction in the first quarter of the year which was followed by a smart recovery in the later part of the year leading to an aggregate demand contraction for the petroleum products of about 9% in 2020-21 over the previous year. Already volatile crude oil market witnessed sharp price fluctuations on the back of demand contraction, inventory overhang and the efforts by the major oil producers to regulate the supplies. The pandemic posed new challenges related to business continuity, supply chain management and concerns related to health and safety of the workforce.
HPCL as an organization made every effort to serve the nation in these tumultuous times by ensuring uninterrupted supplies of essential commodities like cooking gas and transport fuels across length and breadth of the country while ensuring safety of its workforce. HPCL proactively and with full force supported nation’s fight against COVID-19 by undertaking various relief measures for needy and less privileged people including migrant labors. In this background, HPCL exhibited resilience and agility to deal with the ever-evolving and transient business landscape.
During FY 20-21, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has recorded its highest ever Profit after Tax (PAT) of Rs. 10,664 crore as compared to Rs. 2,637 crore for the previous year. Gross sales for the FY 20-21 was Rs. 2,69,243 crore as compared Rs. 2,86,250 crore during the previous year. Profit after Tax for the quarter January –March 2021 is Rs. 3,018 crore as compared to Rs 27 crore for the same quarter last year and the gross sales for the period January-March 2021 is Rs. 84,905 crore as compared to Rs 71,268 crore for the same period last year. Enhanced profitability was a result of robust operational performance, improvement in refinery margins helped by inventory gains and favorable exchange rate variations.
HPCL reported consolidated PAT of Rs. 10,663 crore during 2020-21 as against Rs. 2,639 crore during previous financial year.
For the year 2020-21, HPCL has proposed a final dividend of Rs.22.75 per share.
The combined GRM for HPCL Refineries for FY20-21 works out to US$ 3.86 /bbl compared to US$ 1.02 /bbl in the corresponding previous year. The combined GRM for the quarter Jan – Mar 2021 is US$ 8.11/bbl as compared to US$ (-)1.23 /bbl in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
During 2020-21, HPCL refineries at Mumbai and Visakh achieved combined refining thruput of 16.42 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) with capacity utilization of 104%. Effective crude sourcing plans, optimizing day to day crude run rate, efficient logistics management and regulating product procurements from other sources enabled HPCL to achieve more than 100% capacity utilization in Refineries inspite of overall demand contraction. The refinery thruput for the quarter Jan – Mar 2021 was 4.39 million metric tonnes.
During the year, HPCL achieved sales volume of 36.59 MMT compared to previous year’s sales of 39.64 MMT. HPCL registered market share gain for transport fuels and recorded the least de-growth of 6.6% in domestic sales among the industry, Industry de-growth for 2020-21 being 8.4 % compared to the previous year. HPCL continued to be India’s largest lube marketer and second largest LPG marketer during the year.
In our constant endeavor to create value for the stakeholders, HPCL had initiated ‘Share Buy Back’ program in November 2020 through market transactions for a maximum value of Rs. 2,500 crore at maximum rate of Rs. 250 per share. As of 31st March 2021, HPCL has bought 7.18 Crore shares at a total value of Rs. 1,986 Crore. The Buy-back program has been successfully completed on its expiry date of 14th May 2021. In its entire Buy-back program, HPCL bought back a total of 10.52 Crore Equity Shares utilizing a total of Rs. 2954 Crore.
To further enhance its presence across the value chain of natural gas business, HPCL acquired the balance 50% stake held by M/s SP Ports Pvt. Ltd. in the Joint Venture Company HPCL Shapoorji Energy Pvt Ltd ( HSEPL) and accordingly, effective 30th March 2021, HSEPL has become a wholly owned subsidiary of HPCL. The company was incorporated to set up and operate a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Chhara, Gujarat. The construction work for Chhara LNG terminal is in full swing.
During the year 2020-21, HPCL commissioned 2,158 new retail outlets which is the highest in a year taking the number of total retail outlets to 18,634. HPCL also commissioned 112 new LPG distributorships taking number of total LPG distributors to 6,192 as of 31st March, 2021.
Towards ensuring availability of alternate fuels and offering more choices to customers, CNG dispensing facilities were provided at 203 retail outlets, taking total number of outlets dispensing CNG to 674 as of March 2021. EV Charging facilities were provided at 84 retail outlets. To meet the requirement of select customers for getting diesel delivered at their premises, total 387 Mobile Dispensers are commissioned as of March 2021.
HPCL R & D centre at Bengaluru received 44 patents during the year for the new products, technologies developed by it. HPCL is also working with 27 startups in various areas of its operations.
HPCL has worked out a detailed Digital Transformation strategy and is actively working on harnessing the potential of new age technologies in its various business operations. In order to enhance the operational efficiencies and customer value, 50 POL terminals of HPCL have been converted to ‘Smart Terminals’ with full automation and seamless integration of all activities without needing manual interventions.
HPCL’s Visakh Refinery Modernization Project (VRMP) and Mumbai Refinery expansion Project (MREP) are in the advance stages and are progressing well for completion during the financial year 2021-22. Resid Upgradation Facility at Visakh is also likely to achieve mechanical completion in the calendar year 2022.
The project of setting up a 9 MMTPA Refinery cum Petrochemical complex at Barmer Rajasthan has achieved significant progress with placement of turnkey contracts for major process units during the year and construction work is in progress at site.
HPCL’s major ongoing cross country pipeline projects – Vijayawada to Dharmapuri product Pipeline, Hassan-Cherlapally LPG Pipeline and Barmer – Palanpur product Pipeline are also progressing well.
During 2020-21, HPCL added its 51st LPG bottling plant at Rayagada in Odisha with 60 TMTPA capacity and augmented its bottling capacity at various other existing LPG bottling plants by about 270 TMTPA. HPCL also commissioned LPG Master Godown with 36,600 cylinder storage capacity at Phey village in Leh, Ladakh to meet the winter demand of LPG in the area. Supply infrastructure was further strengthened with addition of Madurai Railway Siding facility in Tamil Nadu and new POL Depot at Hissar in the state of Haryana. Work on CGD projects in various geographical areas authorised to HPCL and its JVs are in progress.
Under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY)’ announced by Government of India in April 2020 for providing 3 free LPG refills per PMUY beneficiaries to mitigate the hardships faced by the poor during pandemic, a total of 3.81 crore refills were delivered to the PMUY beneficiaries by HPCL as of 31st March 2021.
For outstanding performance across various spheres of business, HPCL was recognized with several prestigious awards during the year including “Oil Marketing Company of the Year” for leadership in oil marketing business in India by Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI).
