Reliance Industries posts biggest profit in eight years

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd reported a 15.9 percent rise in fourth-quarter profits on Friday due to strong margins in its oil refining and petrochemicals businesses which account for up to 95 percent of revenues and profits.

Reliance, controlled by India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, posted a consolidated net profit of 73.98 billion rupees ($1.11 billion) for the Jan-March period - it's highest quarterly profit since December 2007.

That compares with the 63.81 billion rupees the company reported it earned in the same period last year and the average of analysts' forecasts of about 69.48 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The gross refining margin on each barrel of crude processed was $10.80 a barrel, up from $10.1 per barrel a year ago, Reliance said.

The company's flagship refining operations, with a refinery in the western state of Gujarat that processes 1.2 million barrels of crude oil a day, reported a 30.4 percent jump in operating profit for the quarter to 63.94 billion rupees.

The petrochemicals business saw a 35.4 percent jump in operating profit to 27.13 billion rupees.

($1 = 66.5408 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Greg Mahlich)