Oil and gas major Reliance Industries on Saturday announced a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,957 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year.

The profit is up 13.7% year-on-year. The company managed to beat estimates due to strong revenue growth in its refining and oil and gas businesses.

Earlier, it was expected that the company would post a net profit of Rs 5400 crore.

RIL said in a statement that the consolidated sales in Q1 were reported at Rs 104,640 crore versus Rs 97,503 crore in the year ago period. It added that higher crude oil prices helped the company register a 7.2% rise in total turnover.

Other expenditure increased by 22.3 % year on year to Rs 9,034 crore from Rs 7,386 crore in the year ago period due to higher expenses on account of power and fuel. "The increase is on account of lower usage of internal fuels which were utilized for value optimization," the company said in a statement.

RIL's other income grew marginally to Rs 2,046 crore from Rs 2036 crore in the previous quarter.

The petrochemical's revenue of the company, however, fell to Rs 23715 crore from Rs 24,343 crore in the previous quarter. The gross refining margins of the company also come down to $8.70/bbl from $9.30/bbl in the previous quarter in line with fall in benchmark index.

"Sequential decline in regional benchmark was on account of weakness in middle distillates and fuel oil cracks, which was partially offset by stronger gasoline and naphtha cracks. The quarter was also characterized by sustained strength in crude prices amid geo-political tensions in Iraq and supply disruptions in Libya. RIL's premium over Singapore complex was marginally lower, sequentially, due to weaker middle distillates cracks," the company said in a statement.

The Q1 petrochemicals EBIT margin came in at 7.33% versus 7.5% YoY. The refining EBIT margin was 3.89% versus 3.22% YoY. The oil and gas EBIT margin came in at 32.78% versus 19.5% YoY.

Commenting on the results, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries said: "RIL has delivered a record level of consolidated net profit, this quarter. This was achieved despite weak regional refining margins and a planned turnaround in our refinery."