<div>Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd posted a sharper than expected 7.7 per cent fall in quarterly profit as a steep decline in global crude oil prices hurt profitability at the energy conglomerate's core refining business.<br /><br />A nearly 60 per cent drop in crude oil prices since June has led to inventory losses and tepid interest from buyers, Reliance said in a statement on Friday, hitting the company's flagship refining operations.<br /><br />Reliance, which operates the world's largest refinery complex in Gujarat, has been investing heavily in consumer-facing areas like retail and telecoms to expand beyond refining and petrochemicals.<br /><br />The company's gross refining margin, or profit from each barrel of crude oil refined, fell to $7.3 per barrel in the quarter ended on Dec. 31, down from $7.6 per barrel a year ago, Reliance said.<br /><br />Net profit was Rs 5085 crore ($822 million) in the December quarter on a standalone basis, down from Rs 5511 crore in the year-ago period, the Mumbai-based conglomerate said.<br /><br />Analysts, on an average, expected the company to report net profit of Rs 5270 crore, according to Thomson Reuters data.<br /><br />Sales for the quarter fell in the company's petrochemicals, refining, and oil and gas businesses, pushing consolidated revenue down by more than a fifth to Rs 96,330 crore.<br /><br />But the company said future earnings would get a boost from major expansion projects planned across its businesses coming on stream.<br /><br />"We continued to advance our refining and petrochemicals business capital investments, which will come to fruition over the next 4-6 quarters," chairman Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, said in a statement. <br /><br /><strong>SC Grants 6 Weeks To RIL<br /></strong>The Supreme Court, meanwhile, granted six weeks time Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to respond to the final CAG report which found alleged irregularities including in payments made to the contractors on drilling of D6 wells at the Krishna-Godavari basin.<br /><br />The apex court posted the next hearing for March 20 during which it would examine the RIL's response to the CAG report that had sought disallowance of $357.16 million (about Rs 2,179 crore) expenditure RIL incurred on drilling of wells and payments to contractors in KG-D6.<br /><br />The order was passed during a brief hearing of petitions filed in 2013 by senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and NGO Common Cause, challenging the then UPA government decision to double the price of natural gas from $4.2 to $8.4 per mmbtu and seeking cancellation of RIL's contract for exploration of oil and gas from the KG basin.<br /><br />The third PIL on the issue has been filed by advocate M L Sharma.<br /><br />In its second audit of RIL's eastern offshore KG-D6 block, the CAG on November 28, 2014 recommended disallowing the company from recovering $279.8 million in cost of three wells as well as a part of expenditure the firm had incurred in area which was improperly declared discovery area.<br /><br />The CAG, in its report tabled in the Parliament, found irregular payment of $427.48 million to contractors, of which it sought disallowance of at least $77.36 million cost.<br /><br />(Agencies)<br /> </div>
