Plunging crude pulls RIL Q3 net down over 7 percent

The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) Friday reported a 7.7 percent fall in net profit at Rs.5,085 crore ($822 million) for the third quarter ended December as compared to Rs.5,511 crore in same quarter of 2013-14, caused by a steep fall in global oil prices.

Crude has touched a five-and-a half-year low from levels of over $100 a barrel in June to below $45 earlier this week, leading to inventory losses and lukewarm buyer interest, that affected the company's refining operations, the company said in a statement here.

It was the first such fall in net profit since October 2012.

The company's gross refining margin (GRM), or profit from each barrel of crude oil refined, dropped to $7.3 per barrel in the quarter in question from $7.6 in the same period a year ago, the statement said.

Commenting on the results, chairman Mukesh Ambani said earnings would get a boost from major expansion projects planned across its businesses coming on stream in the next fiscal.

"We continued to advance our refining and petrochemicals business capital investments, which will come to fruition over the next 4-6 quarters," Ambani said in a statement.