Reliance's O2C business delivers record quarterly performance; EBITDA surges to all-time high

Surging fuel cracks and historic polyester margins propelled Reliance Industries' core oil-to-chemicals segment to record operating profitability, overcoming heavy export duties and retail headwinds. Find out how agile crude sourcing helped bypass shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Reliance Industries(RIL) reported a record quarterly operating performance for its core oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business in the second quarter ended September 30, with segment EBITDA surging 67.9% year-on-year to an all-time high of ₹25,203 crore.

The segment had posted an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of ₹15,008 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year and ₹17,010 crore in the preceding June quarter. Segment EBITDA margin expanded to 10.9% compared with 9.3% in Q2 FY26 and 8.4% in Q1 FY27.

Segment revenue from operations climbed 44.2% year-on-year to ₹2.32 lakh crore (₹2,31,601 crore), up from ₹1.61 lakh crore reported in the year-ago period and ₹2.02 lakh crore in the sequential June quarter, driven by sharply higher crude and product prices.

A CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated RIL's consolidated net profit to rise 7% quarter-on-quarter to ₹22,381 crore, with consolidated revenue pegged to grow 3% sequentially to ₹3.18 lakh crore and consolidated EBITDA estimated at ₹52,223 crore. Brokerage Jefferies had projected O2C EBITDA to rise around 20% both sequentially and year-on-year.

The operational surge in the O2C business was driven by transportation fuel cracks jumping 3 to 3.7 times year-on-year to touch historic highs, alongside polyester chain margins hitting a three-year peak led by gains in paraxylene (PX up 15%) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA up 52%) deltas. Crude oil prices rose 40.6% year-on-year, while downstream chemical product prices gained between 25% and 35%.

Earnings growth, however, continued to be constrained by Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) costs on fuel exports and ongoing retail under-recoveries in the Jio-bp domestic fuel network.

The company stated that it achieved record crude throughput despite shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz by deploying agile sourcing strategies from Europe, Latin America, and North America, ensuring domestic fuel supply was met without reliance on imports.

On the retail mobility front, Reliance BP Mobility Ltd expanded its countrywide footprint to 2,304 fuel retail outlets. Combined motor spirit (petrol) and high-speed diesel volumes grew 4.2% year-on-year, while EV charging volumes under the Jio-bp Pulse network surged 60% year-on-year to 15.8 GWh.

In the upstream exploration and production (Oil & Gas) segment, EBITDA stood at ₹4,901 crore compared with ₹4,973 crore in Q1 FY27 and ₹5,002 crore in Q2 FY26, with segment EBITDA margin coming in at 81.4% against 79% sequentially and 82.6% a year ago. Segment revenue stood at ₹6,020 crore, down from ₹6,298 crore in the preceding quarter and ₹6,058 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal year, as lower KG-D6 gas production and price realisations were largely balanced by stronger condensate realisations and higher Coal Bed Methane (CBM) volumes and pricing.

Average production during the quarter stood at 24.0 MMSCMD of KG-D6 gas and approximately 15,903 barrels per day of oil and condensate. CBM production rose 23.6% year-on-year, with the company confirming that 37 out of 40 planned multi-lateral wells (MLW) have been drilled and 35 have already been connected to production.