NEW DELHI: India's Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world's biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in western India, has deferred a maintenance shutdown of a crude unit at its export-focussed plant to September from March, sources familiar with the matter said.

The refiner had earlier planned to shut a crude unit at its 704,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery for about three weeks in March, sources said.

The refinery has two equal size crude units.

The maintenance turnaround now has been delayed to September, sources said.

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Trade sources said that shutdown has been deferred to take advantage of robust cracks for the refined fuels.

Asia's complex refining margins are averaging at $7.37 so far in February, the highest since March 2018, according to Refinitiv data.

Reliance's Jamnagar complex comprises two complex refineries with combined capacity to process about 1.4 million bpd.

Reliance did not respond to an email seeking comment.