Q2 witnessed quite a few disruptions in terms of shutdowns. What are the trends that you are witnessing on the GRM front and what is the reason for the sequential decline in GRMs?
Our Q2 GRM was $2.44 and the first half H1 of FY21-22 was $2.87. So H1 at $2.87 was better than last year’s H1 which was around $2.58.
One of the reasons for GRM being low is because our Mumbai refinery was in a shutdown for a major revamp and expansion. The Mumbai refinery expansion has got a few new revamped units. We did one very complex and major revamp during the first half of this year. It coincided with the corona second wave. Now the good part was that we could take the shutdown at a time when the margins were low and the demand was also low. But at the same time, it also had a little bit of spillover because there was some restriction on oxygen used for industrial purposes. But we have completed it.
What is the trend you are witnessing in marketing margins? How do you see the performance going forward?
We were not in the practice of providing marketing margins as such. There was a faster pick up in demand and a slower pick up in supply due to restricted supply from OPEC plus countries and the hurricane in Gulf of Mexico called Ida as also some disruption in the pipeline in Libya. So there was a jump in crude prices. Parallely the product prices were also high.
We are trying to ensure that we are able to supply the fuel to the end consumers at the most reasonable prices at the same time keep it aligned to international markets.
How have the volumes picked up given that we are seeing recovery now? Do you see any reasons for worry going ahead as there has been a pickup in the pace for EVs?
Demand has picked up very smartly. In October, petrol was up 5.83% month on month, month on month diesel was up 20%. ATF was up 15.8%. So there is smart recovery in all the major products that are visible if you go outside on the airports, on the roads, on the shops. So demand is coming up without any doubt.
