State-owned GAIL India’s net profit dropped 25 per cent in the December quarter because of a slump in margins on natural gas marketing as well as LPG and liquid hydrocarbons.

The net profit at Rs 1,250.65 crore in October-December, was 25.6 per cent lower than the Rs 1,681.23-crore profit earned in the same period a year ago, the company said.

Revenues from natural gas marketing fell 9.5 per cent to Rs 14,662.67 crore and segment profits dropped 31 per cent to Rs 466.52 crore.

Revenues and profits from its core gas transmission business, however, continued to grow in double digits.

The petrochemical business posted a loss of Rs 8.51 crore compared with a pre-tax profit of Rs 29.71 crore a year ago. Gas marketing pulled down the company’s overall turnover to Rs 17,768.82 crore in the third quarter from Rs 19,788.98 crore in October-December 2018.

GAIL said net profit was up 18 per cent quarter-on-quarter “mainly because of better physical performance, better margins in gas marketing and liquid hydrocarbons”.

The drop in profit was “because of a reduction in petrochemical and liquid hydrocarbon prices by around 22 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively”, the statement added.

Oil India

The consolidated net profit of state-owned explorer Oil India declined to Rs 709.39-crore for the third quarter of 2019-20. This is half the Rs 1,422.87 crore net profit reported in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The average crude oil price realisation during Q3 was $63.27 per barrel, lower by 5.10 per cent compared with $66.67 per barrel a year ago.