Indian Refiner MRPL Swings To Q3 Loss Due To Windfall Tax

India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) swung to a third-quarter loss from a year-ago profit on Monday, hurt by the government's windfall tax on some fuel exports and a surge in the cost of materials consumed.

The crude oil refiner reported a net loss of 1.88 billion rupees ($23.1 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of 5.86 billion rupees a year earlier.

The government levied a windfall tax on exports of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels midway through last year, which, MRPL said, hits its results by 20.46 billion rupees in the quarter.

MRPL, a subsidiary of the government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, said its cost of materials consumed surged 32.2% to 244.95 billion rupees.

Its throughput rose to 4.48 million metric tonnes (MMT) from 4.35 MMT. Revenue from operations increased nearly 24% to 309.66 billion rupees.

MRPL's shares have gained 2.6% so far this month, following a roughly 5.5% drop in the last quarter of 2022.