Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business reported a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 1.5 percent in revenue to Rs 1.54 lakh crore in the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26, on account of lower exports due to a planned shutdown of its refinery.
The segment’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) increased by 10.8 percent YoY to Rs 14,511 crore due to favourable margins on domestic fuel retail, improvements in transportation fuel cracks as well as PP & PVC deltas, the company said.
Reliance’s exports declined by 17.1 percent to Rs 59,245 crore in Q1FY26, compared to Rs 71,463 crore in the same period last year.
“The quarter has been pretty volatile with crude prices ranging between $60-$80 per barrel and (product) cracks between $12-$20 a barrel. Most of the recovery happened around middle of June,” said Srinivasan T, Chief Operating Officer, O2C (Refining).
The company’s total throughput and production meant for sale also declined in the quarter by 3.5 and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the performance of the Jio-bp segment remained healthy in the quarter. The combined sale of petrol and diesel was up by 35 percent YoY in Q1, while retail outlets under the Jio-bp brand expanded to 1,991.
The aviation turbine fuel demand, however, was lower in the quarter because of Operation Sindoor and Middle East crisis, during when many flights were cancelled, said Srinivasan. The polymer cracks were largely healthy during the quarter, he added.
The oil-to-chemicals segment of RIL includes refining, petrochemicals, fuel retailing, aviation fuel and bulk wholesale marketing. It includes a large portfolio spanning transportation fuels, polymers, polyesters and elastomers.
Oil and Gas business
The oil and gas segment of the company reported a fall of 1.2 percent in revenue from last year to Rs 6,103 crore on account of lower sales volume of KGD6 gas in line with natural decline in production. Revenue of the segment was also impacted by lower gas price for coal bed methane ( CBM) gas and lower crude price realisation, the company said.
The segment’s EBITDA also declined by 4.1 percent to Rs 4,996 crore due to lower revenues coupled with higher operating costs due to maintenance activity.
“There has been a natural decline in production but this decline has been lower than what we had envisaged,” said Sanjay Roy, executive vice-president for exploration and production.
Reliance would continue to augment oil and gas production with a focus on increasing output from its KG D6 block, while further expanding exploration across the East coast, said the company’s top management.
“We have a rig coming in next year. We expect to undertake exploration largely around the KG D6 basin because that is the fastest way we can augment production. We will continue to pursue collaborative exploration. We are looking at further expanding exploration across the East coast,” said Roy.
The average KGD6 production for the quarter was 26.55 MMSCMD of gas and approximately 19,300 barrels per day (bpd) of oil/ condensate. Meanwhile, the average price realized for KGD6 gas was $9.97/MMBTU in Q4, compared to $9.27/MMBTU in the same period last year.
For Indian gas demand, Roy said the company saw subdued domestic demand due to early monsoons resulting in lower intake from the power sector.
The oil and gas segment includes exploration, development, production of crude oil and natural gas.
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