HPCL in $8b drive to boost margins

India’s fastest-growing fuel seller will spend $8 billion over the next five years to help its 60-year-old refineries earn profit margins closer to modern processors such as billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd.

“You can definitely expect $2 to $3 addition to the refining margin,” Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman and managing director at Hindustan Petroleum Corp, said in an interview. “These projects will improve distillate yields and improve our margins. This will bring our margin much closer to other complex refiners.”