India’s HPCL to boost oil refining margins

Bloomberg

India’s fastest-growing fuel seller will spend $8 billion over the next five years to help its 60-year-old refineries earn profit margins closer to modern processors such as billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd.
“You can definitely expect $2 to $3 addition to the refining margin,” Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman and managing director at Hindustan Petroleum Corp., said in an interview. “These projects will improve distillate yields and improve our margins. This will bring our margin much closer to other complex refiners.”
Government-owned HPCL, sold 34.2 million tons of oil products in the year ended in March, an increase of 7 percent, the fastest pace among the country’s top three fuel retailers. Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp.’s volumes increased 5.3 percent and 6 percent, respectively. HPCL reported a gross refining margin of $6.68 a barrel last financial year. In comparison, Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex at Jamnagar in western India, reported a refining margin of $10.80 in the same period.