India’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported its petrochemical segment saw a 33% year-on-year fall in revenue to INR251.9 billion ($3.36 billion) in the April-June quarter. Meanwhile, EBITDA from RIL petrochemical business plunged 49.7% year-on-year to INR44.3 billion ($591.35 million). This contrasts the group’s overall net profit which rose 30.6% to INR132.48 billion ($1.77 billion) in the same quarter.
RIL’s sales fell 42% year-on-year to INR1.0 trillion ($13.35 billion). The group’s EBITDA also declined by 11.8% year-on-year to INR215.85 billion ($2.88 billion). The decline was attributed to a lower contribution from RIL’s oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business which took a heavy blow from the coronavirus pandemic, which caused weak domestic demand.
A decline in paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid margins resulted in lower polyester-chain margins, which averaged $540/ton during the reporting period, compared to $668/ton a year earlier. In contrast, polymer-chain margins increased to $500/ton from $471/ton over the same period, driven by a collapse in oil prices which improved naphtha cracking economics.
RIL operated its plants on average rates of more than 90% despite India’s nation-wide lockdown. The company said that during the period, its petrochemical exports increased by more than 2.5 times within just two weeks.
