HPCL to invest ₹12000 crore in capital expansion this fiscal

MUMBAI : State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) will invest ₹12000 crore in capital expansion during the current fiscal. The refiner said it has not revised its capex downward despite the covid-19 impact on the company.

“We are would be spending ₹12000 crore towards capital expenditure. For new projects, we will be prioritizing or phasing them out. Our major vizag and Mumbai refinery expansions are in advanced stage and we would be commissioning them this fiscal. So there is no major change to capex,” said M K Surance, chairman and managing director, HPCL.

Of the ₹12000 crore, HPCL will spend ₹7000 crore in refinery and ₹5000 crore in marketing.HPCL today posted a 56% drop in its net profit at ₹2,637 crore for the year ended 2019-20 against ₹6,029 crore for the previous year.The decrease in net profit is mainly on account of inventory losses due to sharp fall in crude prices and exchange rate fluctuations, the company said today.

January-March quarterly profit however, was down 99% at ₹27 crore against ₹2,970 crore during the corresponding period of previous financial year. Gross sales for the FY 19-20 came in at ₹2,86,250 crore as compared Rs.2,95,713 crore for the previous year.

On the fuel retail front, Surana said the company would be setting up 500 fuel retail outlets during Fy 20-21.Last financial year, HPCL commissioned 1,194 new retail outlets and 245 new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributorships taking the number of total retail outlets to 16,476 and number of total LPG distributors to 6,110.

In line with government’s thrust on natural gas as the fuel of future, HPCL said it has commenced CNG sales at 476 outlets.”Construction activities at our Chhara liquefied natural gasification (LNG) terminal are in progress. We are also participating in cross country natural gas pipelines in joint venture with other companies,” added Surana.

During the year 2019-20, HPCL commissioned its Uran Chakan Shikrapur LPG Pipeline Project, Mundra Delhi Pipeline (MDPL) Capacity Expansion and Palanpur Vadodara Pipeline Project among others.HPCL also commissioned a of 120,000 metric tonnes capacity LPG bottling plant at Sugauli (Bihar).

“In addition, LPG bottling capacity augmentation projects were completed and commissioned in Jatni (Odisha), Kondapally (Andhra Pradesh), Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Manglia (Madhya Pradesh) LPG plants, with total capacity addition of 360 TMTPA during the year. The enhanced capacities shall help in meeting the growing LPG demand in India,” the company said.

The company said that its Visakh Refinery Modernization Project and Mumbai Refinery expansion project are progressing well and the construction activities are in progress at the 9 million metric tonnes per annum greenfield refinery cum petrochemical complex project of HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL) site in Pachpadra in Barmer.

“All the project construction sites, which were temporarily closed due to covid-19 lock downs in March end 2020 have recommenced activities post relaxation effective April 20, 2020 with all necessary precautions,” the company said.