Ukraine Crisis: Reliance Industries To Supply Diesel-Starved Europe

New Delhi: Cashing in on the surging demand for diesel, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd.’s Jamnagar facility is lifting crude processing and deferring planned maintenance. It’s already sending shipments of the fuel to Europe, and this will increase in the coming months, Bloomberg reported quoting people who did not wish to be named.

The complex in Gujarat can process 1.36 million barrels of crude a day from two refineries and is able to export most of the fuel.

“Reliance has large flexibility in terms of crude feedstock ratio and yield shifts, and it exports 80% of its output,” Senthil Kumaran, head of South Asia oil at industry consultant FGE was quoted as saying. “That gives it the maximum benefit in strong margin times.”

Notably, Reliance had planned to shut one of the crude processing units at Jamnagar for about three weeks starting this month, but that’s now been postponed to September, according to the report. The export-focused unit utilized only 74.7% of its capacity in January, data from India’s oil ministry show.