Reliance expands fuel exports to Africa, Europe amid West Asia supply disruptions

Mumbai: Reliance Industries has expanded fuel exports to Africa, the Mediterranean and other European markets, capitalising on supply disruptions caused by the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

The shift has helped the company increase its market share in these regions by around 50%, according to its September-quarter financial presentation cited by The Economic Times.

Reliance has also tapped opportunities in Australia, Kenya and Tanzania for premium-grade petrol, while increasing supplies of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to Mediterranean markets. The company supplied low-sulphur aviation fuel to South Africa for the first time, opening up another export market.

“We found opportunities in the Mediterranean market because of the loss of supply,” Srinivasan Tuttagunta, Reliance’s chief operating officer for supply and trading, said in the presentation, referring to diesel and jet fuel.

The company’s oil-to-chemicals business was the biggest contributor to its July-September quarter earnings. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 68 per cent to a record Rs 25,203 crore, while revenue increased 44 per cent to Rs 2.31 lakh crore.

Global refining margins strengthened during the quarter amid geopolitical disruptions, refinery outages and lower fuel inventories. Reliance said it had also diversified crude sourcing across the Americas, the Gulf and other regions to maintain refinery operations despite shipping disruptions.

The company expects global fuel supplies to remain tight in the near term, citing refinery outages, restrictions on Russian fuel exports and uncertainty over Chinese exports.

With inputs from media reports