Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India?s largest private sector company, on Thursday announced a net profit of Rs 4,110 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008, 13% higher than the Rs 3,630 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

This was aided by sustained refining margins at its refinery complex at Jamnagar, on the back of efficient sourcing of crude oil, ability to produce globally accepted products and flexibility in its crude bucket, product slate and evacuation infrastructure, RIL said.

Turnover for the quarter was up 38% at Rs 43,050 crore compared with Rs 31,290 crore in the first quarter of last fiscal. The quarter also witnessed a rise in revenues for the refining & marketing segment, which increased 46% from Rs 22,328 crore to Rs 32,587 crore, mainly due to high product prices driven by high crude prices.

RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said, ?We have continued to scale new peaks in financial performance despite a challenging business environment, including domestic inflation and weakening of the leading economies of the world. We are confident that the new growth drivers–oil and gas, organised retailing and agro-retail–will take Reliance to a higher growth trajectory in the medium term.?

RIL stock was up 1.81% to close at Rs 2,306.55 on the BSE on Thursday.

Arvind Mahajan, executive director, KPMG Advisory Services, said, ?The RIL first quarter results are in line with market expectations.?

The Jamnagar refinery processed 8.13 million tones of crude and posted an average utilisation of 98.5%. Compared to this, average utilisation rates in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region stood at 85.6%, 83.7% and 83.5%, respectively.

The Tapti fields produced higher gas volumes of 1,133 mmscm and 77,400 tonne of condensate, registering a growth of 97% and 133%, respectively, over the corresponding period last fiscal.

However, the Panna-Mukta fields produced 321,600 tonnes of crude oil and 353 mmscm of natural gas, a decrease of 30% and 27%, respectively, compared to the corresponding quarter the previous year. That was attributed to a shutdown in June in the PPA process platform.

Reliance Petroleum Ltd achieved 94% overall progress in implementation of its complex refinery, which will be completed ahead of its initial schedule of December 2008. The company?s retail arm, Reliance Retail Ltd, entered into a joint venture with Office Depot for office solution products during the quarter.