Reliance Industries Ltd., operator of the world’s largest refining complex, increased its share of sales in India to meet growing demand for fuels.
The Mumbai-based energy explorer and refiner sold 20.65 million metric tons of fuels in the South Asian nation in the nine months ended Dec. 31 compared with 8.01 million tons a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on export figures released by the company today. The numbers were confirmed by a Reliance spokesman, who declined to be identified in line with company policy.
Reliance, which can process 1.24 million barrels of oil a day, increased its share of fuel sales in India as the global recession cut demand for gasoline and diesel in the U.S. and Europe. The company gave up the export-only status of its first refinery in April after completing in December 2008 a 580,000 barrel-a-day refinery that caters to overseas customers.
Domestic sales as a share of output rose to 47 percent in the nine months ended Dec. 31, compared with 33 percent a year earlier, according to data released by the company. Customers include Indian Oil Corp., the largest state-run refiner, which started purchasing diesel and gasoline from Reliance in April.
“Buying fuels from Reliance reduces our costs,” Gyan Chand Daga, marketing director at Indian Oil, said by telephone from Mumbai today. “Demand for fuels is growing and we need to meet that gap.”
India’s oil product sales grew 3.2 percent in November from a year earlier, compared with a 2.7 percent contraction in demand in major industrialized economies, the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly report.
Retail Outlets
Reliance has reopened more than 600 retail fuel outlets in India, according to today’s statement. The company mothballed its 1,433 gas stations nationwide as crude soared to a record in 2008, unable to compete with state-owned refiners that sold motor fuels below cost.
The revenue loss for state refiners on sales of motor fuels declined after crude fell from a record in July 2008. Indian Oil said in August it lost 2.30 rupees on every liter of diesel sold compared with a shortfall of 13 rupees a liter in September 2008.
The government partly compensates state refiners for selling fuels below cost without extending the benefit to private refiners, including Reliance and Essar Oil Ltd.
Source:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=auw0zfU5yliU
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