Reliance Industries fuel exports rise 6% on Singapore gasoline cargoes

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), India’s largest listed company, raised fuel exports from the world’s biggest refining complex by 6 percent in the first half of April as demand from Southeast Asia boosted shipments to Singapore, Bloomberg reports.


The Mumbai-based company, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, increased shipments of fuel products from its Jamnagar facility to at least 800,000 metric tons from 755,000 tons in the first 15 days of March, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and vessel fixtures from Clarkson Research Services Ltd.


Reliance is exporting more as state-owned rivals such as Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. sell more fuel domestically at government-capped prices while refinery outages in Asia boost demand. Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest U.S. oil company, shut parts of its Singapore refining complex for nine weeks starting March 9 for maintenance and upgrades, while PT Pertamina stopped fuel production at its Cilacap, Central Java refinery from April 2 to April 8 after a fire broke out at a storage tank.


“We are currently in the refinery maintenance season in this region,” said Praveen Kumar, Singapore-based head of South Asia oil and gas at FACTS Global Energy, an industry consultant. “Reliance can bring its products to Singapore, store them and then reship cargoes to other places.”


Manoj Warrier, a spokesman for Reliance in Mumbai, didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.


Gasoline Shipments


Reliance exported at least 540,000 tons of gasoline from Jamnagar in western India during the first 15 days this month, compared with 195,000 tons in the first half of March, according to transmissions captured by AISLive on Bloomberg and data from Clarkson Research, a unit of the world’s biggest shipbroker.


At least 42 percent of this month’s gasoline shipments went to Singapore, while at least two cargoes went to the U.S. Gasoline demand in the world’s biggest economy typically peaks in the so-called summer driving season, which lasts from the Memorial Day weekend in late May to the Labor Day holiday in early September.


The Stena Paris was hired by Mercuria to transport 35,000 tons of gasoline to Singapore from the port of Sikka near Jamnagar, the Clarkson data show. The vessel sailed from near Sikka in early April and was last tracked off the coast of Singapore, according to ship transmissions captured by Bloomberg.


Benchmark 92-RON gasoline declined 2.3 percent to $124.95 a barrel on yesterday, Bloomberg data showed.


Nord Observer


Gasoil, or diesel, shipments dropped 66 percent to at least 168,060 tons. Reliance doubled fuel exports in the first half of March as the European winter boosted demand for diesel. Destinations for diesel cargoes in April included the Middle East and Africa, the data show. The company also shipped 35,000 tons of naphtha to Japan and 57,000 tons of jet fuel to Europe.


The Nord Observer sailed from Sikka to the Saudi Arabian port of Jizan earlier this month, according to ship transmissions. The vessel was hired by Cargill Inc. to transport 40,000 tons of gasoil to the Middle East, the Clarkson data show. The tanker was last tracked heading back to Sikka from Jizan.


Gasoil with 0.5 percent sulfur fell 1.5 percent to $135.75 a barrel yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.


All figures from Clarkson are for single-voyage bookings and exclude long-term charters. Shipbrokers aren’t obliged to report charters so the scope of data capture can vary from month to month.


Reliance runs two refineries in the western Indian state of Gujarat, which are capable of processing heavier grades of crude. They have a processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels a day, and account for about 1.6 percent of global refining capacity, according to the company’s website.
(Source:http://en.portnews.ru)