Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) reported a post-tax profit of VND895 billion (US$39.3 million) in the third quarter of this year, 16 per cent less, year-on-year.

Deputy General Director of Petrolimex, Tran Ngoc Nam, attributed the decline to the reduction in post-tax profit of Castrol BP Petco, a lubricant and grease marketing and production joint venture between BP and Petrolimex, during the period.

As a result, the prorated post-tax profit that Petrolimex received from Petco reduced by 25 per cent, compared to the same period last year.

The group’s business performance was also affected by other factors such as rising social insurance costs and outsourcing costs.

According to the company’s financial report, Petrolimex earned VND38.3 trillion in revenue during the third quarter, up 31 per cent year-on-year.

In the first nine months of this year, the total revenue of Petrolimex reached VND112.4 trillion, up 27.7 per cent over the same period of last year, mainly due to the 5 per cent increase in global crude oil’s average over the same period of 2016.

Petrolimex post-tax profit during nine months was VND2.9 trillion, down 13 per cent year-on-year.

In the period, the petroleum business activities brought the highest profit for the group with VND1.8 trillion, accounting for over 51 per cent of the total profit, while profit earned by non-petroleum business activities totaled VND1.7 trillion. — VNS