Oil Numbers

May 24, 2007 (LBO) – Lanka IOC, a unit of the Indian Oil Corporation has posted higher profits in the March quarter helped by a provision write-back and supply of refined products to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Lanka IOC posted net profits of 874 million rupees in the 3-months to March (344.7 million rupees in 2006) despite sales falling from 10 billion rupees to 9 billion, according to results filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange.

For the full year to March 2007, revenues were 32.7 billion rupees, (37.4 billion in 2006) and the firm lost 636 million against a loss of 1,717 million in the previous year.

The better performance in the last quarter was helped 287 million rupees of other income, and 214 million write back of a value added tax provision.

"The other income came from handling charges and revenue earned from product sales to Ceylon Petroleum Corporation," Lanka IOC Managing Director K Ramakrishnan told LBO.

"We were supplying CPC from our facility in Trincomalee. We also pay similar charges when we get products from CPSTL [common user facility] in Colombo."

Ceylon Petroleum was importing higher volumes of refined products in the first quarter as its refinery was closed for ma