(T.E.T)
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has asked its fuel dealers to brace for a 50% cut in diesel supply since the company is losing Rs 10-12 per litre on sale of diesel, said industry executives aware of the development. The company took the decision in a meeting on Wednesday night to halve the diesel supply from Thursday, the executives told ET on condition of anonymity. “I was informed last evening by my area manager that RIL would be supplying only half of the diesel volumes I sold in December 2021. They are taking December sales, before the Omicron variant impacted business, as a benchmark,” said a Jio-BP dealer. Indian fuel retailers have not revised the pump prices since November 4, when crude oil was $83 per barrel. On Thursday morning, global benchmark Brent crude was trading at $99.15 a barrel, having plunged from a high of $139 on March 7 but up from $98 a day earlier, when a fresh outbreak of Covid-19 in China eased concerns over demand.
RIL’s twin refineries in Gujarat can process 1.36 million barrels of crude oil per day. Its refineries have always been export-oriented. Europe has become an attractive market for Asian refiners since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
