Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE), Greece’s biggest oil company, may cut crude processing rates should profit margins continue to fall. “We haven’t done anything yet, but it’s only been in the last 20 days or so that margins have been affected,” said George Grigoriou, an investor relations officer with HELPE. Refiners, including Tesoro Corp in the USA, announced this week they had cut fuel output after record crude prices eroded profit margins. The so-called cracking margin to turn Russian Urals crude into petroleum products fell to 25 cents a barrel yesterday from $6.27 a barrel on January 11, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. HELPE operates three refineries in Greece and is spending 1 billion euros through 2011 to upgrade facilities. The company has planned maintenance at its Thessaloniki and Elefsina refineries this spring.