Jan 22 Reuters India39;s Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL reported a lowerthanexpected thirdquarter profit on Wednesday, due to lower marketing margins and losses in its liquefied petroleum gas LPG segment.

The stateowned company39;s standalone net profit rose about 37 to 46.49 billion rupees 538.6 million in the three months ended Dec. 31. Analysts had expected a profit of 48.52 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

The company, India39;s thirdlargest oil refiner by capacity, said its average gross refining margin for AprilDecember fell to 5.95 per barrel from 14.72 per barrel a year earlier. BPCL does not give quarterly margin numbers.

Revenue from operations fell about 2 to 1.28 trillion rupees, after a 72.29 billion rupees hit to account for the difference between LPG cylinders39; marketdetermined price and their subsidised selling price.

KEY CONTEXT

India, the world39;s No. 3 oil importer and consumer, saw increased fuel consumption last quarter due to holidaysrelated travel and a pickup in agricultural activity after a healthy monsoon.

Fuel consumption rose 2.9 in October, before surging 9.3 in November and increasing another 2.1 in December.

However, since March, the three Indian refiners Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL have been hurt by losses in the cooking gas or LPG segment as the government kept domestic LPG prices unchanged even as raw material costs spiked.

Global crude oil prices rose 4 in the quarter.

PEER COMPARISON…