Petrol and diesel prices are unlikely to be increased despite firming raw material costs because of upcoming general elections next year, Moody's Investors Service said. Three state-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) -- which control roughly 90 per cent of the market, have kept petrol and diesel prices on freeze for a record 18 months in a row. This is despite the raw material (crude oil) cost surging last year, leading to heavy losses in first half of 2022-23 fiscal year before easing oil prices propelled them to profitability.
Differences between ministries of divestment and petroleum are likely to surface at Fridays meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Divestment as the former is believed to have proposed keeping public sector units.
HPCL advanced further on Monday on buying support from institutions following reports that a inter-ministerial group is likely to meet on Thursday to shortlist the names of bidders for the state-run oil refiner.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its meeting this morning approved the project, official sources said.
Steel baron L N Mittal and French oil major Total on Thursday signed an agreement with state-run HPCL for jointly setting up a $6 billion refinery-cum petrochemical complex at Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. State-run gas utility Gail India and exploration firm Oil India Limited are the other stakeholders in the proposed 15 million tonne refinery and one million tonne petrochemical complex.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday said last week's Supreme Court ruling halting the privatisation of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd was a "setback", but hoped that a solution will emerge soon.
Kicking off the divestment process in the two public sector oil companies, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation, the government
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.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and British oil giant British Petroleum will decide on signing a binding agreement for a new refining and marketing joint venture vehicle to build a nine million tonne refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab by November 12.
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.
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.
While BPCL has been ranked third in the poll, Reliance is at the fourth position adn HPCL 8th.
Engineers India said on Friday that it has won a Rs 1100 crore (Rs 11 billion) contract for upgradation of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's Mumbai refinery.\n\n\n\n
Workers of India's third largest oil refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd have decided to go on an indefinite strike from January 15 to protest against campus recruitment of new staff and "autocratic" management.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd will invest Rs 500 crore (Rs 5,000 million) over the next 2-3 years in oil exploration and plans to continue with its retail venture by setting up 750 petrol stations this fiscal.
It is in talks with a local player for a discovered asset so that it can have a ready cash flow in one or two years.
Oil giant Shell says it is serious about bidding for Hindustan Petroleum and is eagerly watching developments on the refiner's divestment process.
India-born billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal will invest Rs 3,200 crore (Rs 32 billion) in taking 49 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's $3 billion Bhatinda refinery.
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
Capital expenditure (capex) by 54 large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and five departmental arms with an annual capex target of Rs 100 crore and above has reached around 42.5 per cent of their annual target of about Rs 7.33 trillion in this financial year so far, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance told Business Standard. "The Centre is pushing the big public undertakings in the infrastructure and refinery sector to achieve 90 per cent of their target by the end of the third quarter," he said. The capex by this group of CPSEs stands at around Rs 3.1 trillion in the April-August period so far.
Mittal is in talks to take 20 per cent stake in state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd's Rs 9,100 crore (Rs 91 billion), six million tons a year Bina refinery that is to be commissioned by 2010-11, industry sources said.
HPCL got a veritable boost in morning trades on Monday after the Centre set the deadline for receiving expressions of interest for a stake in the company at 17 March 2003.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, the state-owned company, could find itself becoming a major player in the oil and gas sector both within the country and overseas with huge capital being pumped in by the L N Mittal-promoted Mittal Investments.
If cleared, the ONGC arm will become the first subsidiary company of an existing Maharatna to get into this superior league among government-owned entities.
Seven companies including Royal Dutch/Shell, BP Amoco, Reliance Industries and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation were left in the fray for acquiring government stake in oil PSU Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd after bidders were shortlisted.
India's largest refiner, Reliance Industries Ltd, is in talks with public sector oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for a tie-up to run the former's fuel retail outlets, closed a year earlier.HPCL has issued a limited tender to five merchant bankers to advise it on the deal.Last year, RIL closed 1,400 petrol pumps -- 900 owned by the company and the rest managed by dealers.