Refining business will see an improvement only if global crude prices improve, said Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Director-Finance of IOC.

“Refining margins continue to be under pressure. There is a reoccurrence of COVID cases world over. Since our domestic prices are governed by international prices, the margins are still suppressed and has resulted in weakness of margins. This position would improve only if global situation of the COVID pandemic improves,” he said.

Gupta expects crude oil prices to remain between USD 40-50 per barrel. He further added that the company will not have much impact on inventory if crude stays within those levels.

Gupta also said that IOC is planning a capex of around Rs 26,000 crore. On retail fuel sales, he said petrol sales were up 2 percent year-on-year in October, but diesel sales are 2 percent short of pre-COVID levels.

(Edited by : Santosh Nair)