Indian private-sector refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) posted higher revenue from its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business during the April 2022-March 2023 fiscal year because of a rise in average crude prices and higher price realisation from transportation fuels.
RIL's revenue from the O2C business rose to 5.95 trillion rupees ($72.6bn) in 2022-23, up by nearly 19pc from Rs5.1 trillion a year earlier, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Revenue increased led by the rise in export profits because of higher prices for transportation fuels, despite lower production.
RIL said its access to global markets and sourcing of cheaper crude and feedstock from outside India helped improve its O2C margins during 2022-23. But the government's excise duty on fuel exports, imposed in July last year, trimmed profits by Rs66.48bn during 2022-23, the company said.
India scrapped its export tax on diesel and reimposed a windfall tax on crude production, in the latest adjustment to its tax scheme on 19 April. Delhi reimposed a windfall tax on crude of about 6,400 rupees/t ($10.63/bl) after previously slashing it to zero. The government also scrapped a Rs0.50/litre export tax on diesel, according to a finance ministry notification. This is the first time that the diesel export duties have been scrapped since the tax scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the continued weakening of Asian gasoil margins.
The rise in O2C revenue for 2022-23 came despite a decline during the January-March 2023 quarter. RIL's O2C revenue during January-March fell by nearly 12pc from a year earlier to Rs1.28 trillion because of sharp falls in crude prices and a decline in realised prices for downstream products, the company said. The export duty on fuel reduced earnings by Rs7.11bn during the quarter, RIL said.
RIL's refinery throughput rose marginally to 77mn t/yr (1.55mn b/d) over 2022-23 from 1.54mn b/d in 2021-22. But throughput rose to 1.61mn b/d during January-March, up by 5.3pc from 1.53mn b/d a year earlier.
RIL's overall profit rose to Rs741bn in 2022-23, up from Rs650bn a year earlier. Profit also rose to Rs213bn during January-March, up by 20pc from Rs178bn in October-December and by 18pc from Rs180bn a year earlier. The company's gross revenue rose by 23pc on the year to Rs9.77 trillion in 2022-23, driven by revenues from its oil and gas business more than doubling to Rs165bn, as well as gains in other business such as O2C and digital services.
The company said its oil and gas segment is poised to make up 30pc of India's domestic gas production. RIL is set to commission the MJ deepwater gas fields in the Krishna-Godavari (KG)-D6 basin during the April-June 2024 quarter, with production from the field aimed at 12mn m³/d during the April 2023-March 2024 fiscal year. With the commissioning of the MJ fields, gas output from RIL-BP's KG-D6 block will rise to 30mn m³/d during 2023-24, accounting for 30pc of India's overall gas production and 15pc of the country's gas demand.

