S&P Global Ratings warns that Indian oil marketing companies like IOC, BPCL, and HPCL may face reduced profit margins due to rising crude oil prices and government pressure to maintain stable retail prices.
To help them make up for the revenue lost on selling auto and cooking fuel below cost.
Losses on sale of diesel at government-controlled rates have hit a record Rs 19.26 a litre, sending state-owned oil companies scrambling for ways to cover the mounting losses.
State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp has offered to take Hindustan Petroleum Corp as equal partner in the Rs 6,354 crore (Rs 63.54 billion) Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh.
Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and IBP will turn financially sick by next year as losses arising from freeze on fuel prices are set to erode their net worth, according to oil ministry estimates.
Indian state-run oil giants HPCL and BPCL reported on Wednesday no supply disruptions as result of a two-day-old strike by workers opposing privatisation of the refiners.
The fiscal tilt towards capex benefits companies in investment-related sectors like capital goods, defence equipment, engineering & construction and metal & mining. The planned cut in revenue expenditure will weigh on companies in consumption sectors like FMCG, consumer durables and retail.
Attorney General Soli Sorabjee has said the sale of stakes in two state-run oil refiners does not need parliamentary approval.
This is the second hike in diesel price this month.
Private sector low cost airline SpiceJet has entered into a strategic tie-up with Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd to sell air-tickets through the latter's petrol stations.
The merged entity will become the third biggest refiner behind IOC and Reliance Industries.
NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal may partner with Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd in the state-run firm's under-construction $3 billion refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab.
The government will press ahead with its stalled privatisation programme and sell stakes in two refiners, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said.
HPCL is Kingfisher Airline's largest aviation turbine fuel supplier.
ChevronTexaco has bid for a stake in state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, India's second-largest oil refiner and retailer.
India-born billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal may take 49 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd's under-construction $3 billion refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab.
With an eye on bigger imports, the oil marketing firm may get its French partner Total to set it up.
ONGC has awarded the service contract for development of its B-192, B-45 and WO-24 fields, known as Cluster 7, south-west of the Mumbai High field to a consortium of HPCL, Prize Petroleum Comnpany Ltd and Malaysia's M3nergy Berhad (Trenergy). \n\n
The official, who did not wish to be identified, said the government will wrap up the stake sale in HPCL by November.\n\n
State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd plans to invest over Rs 13,000 crore to raise the capacity of its Vizag refinery and set up an aromatic plant there.
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report, submitted by ecologist Madhav Gadgil last year, was further delaying the Rs 30,000-crore (Rs 300-billion) refinery project of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in Maharashtra, a senior official of the state-run oil marketing firm said. The project has already been delayed due to bureaucratic red tape.
Officers of India's third largest oil firm Hindustan Petroleum Corp on Thursday began an indefinite agitation against "arbitrary and autocratic" style of company management.
An HPCL-led consortium had put the project on hold in 2009.
The shutdown of the gasoline making units would result in the production of high sulphur gasoline that cannot be sold in India.
The strike by workers of state-owned oil firms Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp to oppose privatisation of the cash-rich refiners entered the second day on Wednesday but operations and petroleum product supplies remained unaffected.
"Air India is unable to pay even after a 90-day credit period. They owe us about Rs 300 crore without interest. There is also no bank guarantee from Air India to any of the oil marketing companies. We do not know when will the company honour its dues," said a BPCL official on condition of anonymity.
Global oil major British Petroleum and French oil giant Total are eyeing equity in Hindustan Petroleum Corp's Rs 8,336 crore
A parliamentary panel has rapped the government for bypassing Parliament in deciding to privatise oil refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp
Petrol price was on Saturday cut by Rs 0.50 per litre but there will be no change in rates of diesel.
No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price hike on passenger fares.
The movement of prices in international oil market and rupee-dollar exchange rate shall continue to be closely monitored
Petrol and diesel prices are likely to be cut by close to Re 1 per litre this weekend on sliding global oil rates.
Fernandes wanted Coca-Cola Company to not just transfer 60 per cent of the shares of its Indian firm but also the formula for its concentrate to Indian shareholders.
India plans to release about 5 million barrels of crude oil from its emergency stockpile in tandem with the US, Japan and other major economies to cool prices, a top government official said on Tuesday. India stores about 38 million barrels of crude oil in underground caverns at three locations on the east and west coast. Of this, about 5 million barrels will be released, starting as early as 7-10 days, the official, who wished not to be named said.
Jet fuel (ATF) rates were on slashed by a steep 12.5 per cent, the sixth straight reduction in prices since August, as international oil prices slumped to five-year low levels.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday allowed Non-Resident Indian steel baron Lakshmi N Mittal to pick up 49 per cent stake in state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp's Bhatinda refinery.
Reliance Industries' refining earnings will remain steady, supported by its position as India's largest importer of Russian crude and favourable global supplies, according to analysts at JM Financial and Goldman Sachs. Reliance imported more Russian barrels than any other Indian refiner in the past eight months, according to data from Bloomberg/Kpler.
Petrol price has been cut by 58 paise a litre and diesel by 25 paise with effect from midnight tonight.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its meeting this morning approved the project, official sources said.
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