New Delhi: Buoyed by a sharp jump in refining margins and a cut in excise duty, state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) have reported earnings which are higher than expectations amid skyrocketing crude oil prices during the West Asia crisis, reported Business Standard.A combined net profit (adjusted for exceptional gains and losses) of a whopping Rs 29,896.1 crore in the September quarter of FY27 was reported by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), a figure that is 66.2% higher from the Rs 17,990.4 crore that was reported in the year-ago period.The latest net profit figure is also the highest in last 13 quarters.Earlier, the OMCs also benefited from a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel in March. However, they did not pass its benefit pass on to consumers. The duty cut resulted in a sharp year-on-year decline in their indirect tax outgo without any change in retail fuel prices, expanding the OMCs’ marketing margins.An analysis by the Business Standard showed that higher refining margins led to higher operating or Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins, offsetting losses on retail sales of transport and cooking fuel.As a direct result of the excise duty cut, the combined excise duty payout of the OMCs almost halved on a year-on-year basis to Rs 27,516.4 crore in the quarter under review, from Rs 54,018.8 crore a year ago, the figure being the lowest in at least 21 quarters.Prior to the duty cut in March, the OMCs had on average spent around Rs 52,350 crore on excise duty every quarter, between September 2021 and December 2025.On the other hand, private player Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) oil-to-chemicals (O2C) segment’s earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) stood at a record high of Rs 22,347 crore in Q2FY27, against Rs 12,560 crore a year ago and Rs 14,170 crore Q1FY27, reported Business Standard.During the same period, crude oil prices in the September 2026 quarter increased 40% year-on-year due to the West Asia crisis, while prices of transportation fuel in the international market increased by 50-78%.