KARACHI: Pakistan's leading oil refining company, Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited ("Byco"), reported financial results for the nine months ending on 31 March 2021 on Tuesday. Byco's gross revenues dropped to Rs 150.1 billion from Rs 192.1 billion posted in the same period last year, due to pandemic-induced drop in oil prices in 2020. Due to price risk mitigating measures implemented during this period and improved inventory management, the gross profits more than quadrupled to Rs 5.47 billion from Rs 1.19 billion the previous year. Operating profit rose to Rs 4.04 billion from Rs 0.24 billion in 2020, including the impact of a modest increase in operating expenses. Byco showed a solid net profit of Rs 2.17 billion, or Rs 0.41 earnings per share, in the first nine months of the current financial year from a net loss of Rs 2.67 billion, or Rs 0.50 loss per share, last year.

International oil prices have risen sharply in the current fiscal year, with Brent crude increasing from $45 a barrel in early July 2020 to above $60 a barrel by the end of March 2021, as a result of the ongoing global economic recovery. Pakistan's business environment improved, while strong remittance inflows strengthened the Pakistani Rupee's exchange rate against the US Dollar, and domestic consumption of oil products stabilized during the period. These factors provided some respite to the battered domestic oil industry. Byco's CEO, Amir Abbassciy, remarked: "We are engaged in discussions with the government, expecting their support to the petroleum refining sector so that we can upgrade our plants and achieve sustainable margins".-PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021