SK Innovation Co., South Korea’s top refiner, said Friday that its third-quarter net profit nosedived 72 percent from a year earlier due to decreased refining margins.

Net income came to 509.7 billion won ($465 million) in the July-September period compared with 1.82 trillion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales, however, rose 7.5 percent to 18.5 trillion won on-year in the period, while operating profit fell 24.7 percent to 648.7 billion won.

Compared with the previous quarter, the company return to a net profit in the third quarter, a turnaround from a loss of 238.4 billion won.

SK Innovation said the third-quarter turnaround from three months earlier came as SK Energy, its subsidiary that handles its petroleum business, performed better on a rise in oil prices and strong refining margins.

The company also swung to an operating profit in the third quarter from an operating loss of 102.8 billion won in the second quarter.

Among its other subsidiaries, SK Global Chemical Co. posted 249.9 billion won in operating profit in the July-September period and SK Lubricants Co. logged 106.5 billion won in operating profit.

Shares of SK Innovation were trading at 156,500 won on the Seoul bourse as of 11:47 a.m., down 0.63 percent from the previous session’s close. (Yonhap News)