{
  "id": 8135662,
  "title": "Crude shock to hit oil companies' margins, but refining gains could save Q2 show",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/crude-shock-to-hit-oil-companies-margins-but-refining-gains-could",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-17T18:34:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times - Top News",
    "slug": "the-economic-times-top-news",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/commodities/news/crude-shock-to-hit-oil-companies-margins-but-refining-gains-could-save-q2-show/articleshow/134323398.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Crude oil prices have surged to exceed $100 a barrel, primarily due to geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran. This increase is expected to negatively impact marketing margins for oil companies in September, with petrol margins dropping to a loss of ₹7.4 per litre and diesel margins falling to a loss of ₹10.3 per litre, according to ICICI Securities estimates. However, these losses are anticipated to be less severe compared to the losses incurred in the June quarter, when marketing margins were ₹6.1 and ₹18.9 per litre for petrol and diesel, respectively.\n\nThe turnaround in the September quarter is largely attributed to a significant fall in crude oil prices to around $68 a barrel in mid-July, as tensions between the two nations eased. This drop in crude prices helped improve auto-fuel marketing margins, which are expected to continue recovering in September thanks to the recent announcement of higher retail fuel prices. Overall, refining margins remain a crucial buffer against the decline in retail fuel margins, with Singapore Gross Refining Margins averaging $24.5 per barrel during April-August, which is substantially higher than the average of $5.6 per barrel over the past three years.",
  "summary": "Oil breached $100 a barrel this month with Brent crude at around $107 as US-Iran clashes stoked supply fears. Retail fuel marketing margins are expected to turn into a loss of ₹7.4 per litre for petrol and ₹10.3 per litre for diesel in September. However, it is unlikely to erase improvement seen during the first two months of the quarter.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}