The sale of petroleum products in May 2020 is lower by around 30% as compared to May 2019 whereas in April it was down by 55% says Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).   

 

The whole oil industry including BPCL witnessed a significant drop in crude oil prices and generally there was a fall in demand for products in the aftermath of COVID-19.

 

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the physical and financial performance of the company for FY2019-20 was lesser as compared to the months of April and May 2020, as the nationwide lockdown was announced only in the last week of the financial year 2020. 

 

Though there was no closure of any refinery of the company, including subsidiary and joint venture companies, due to drop in the demand of petroleum products, the operations of BPCL's refineries were curtailed to the level of around 63% of design capacity during the month of April 2020. However, with increase in demand for petroleum products in May 2020, the capacity utilization of refineries has gradually increased to approximately 77% by 31st May 2020. The company shall resume its full operations as soon as the situation permits.

 

The company witnessed growth in demand for LPG in the months of April and May 2020 as compared to previous year. The company has increased the production of LPG by optimizing the operations in refineries and has been supplying approximately 14 lakh cylinders every day to the customers.

 

BPCL managed the crude oil inventory by either deferring or cancelling some crude cargoes and diverting some to strategic petroleum reserves of the government of India.