Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) shares gained as much as 1.9 per cent in the early trade on Thursday after the Reserve Bank (RBI) allowed foreign investors to raise their holdings in the oil marketing company to up to 49 per cent.

At 10.18 am, shares of BPCL were trading 1.67 per cent up at Rs 996.45. The scrip opened at Rs 990.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs 999 and Rs 988.60, respectively, in trade so far. Sensex was trading 161.15 points, or 0.60 per cent, down at 26,853.71.

State-owned IOC, BPCL and HPCL have struck a temporary deal with Reliance Industries and Essar Oil to resume buying petrol and diesel from private refiners on revised terms.

Short of own production, state refiners Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) buy about 12 million tonnes of diesel annually from Jamnagar refineries of RIL and the Vadinar unit of Essar.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)'s performance for the quarter ended March, like that of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), was impressive and much ahead of estimates.

HPCL' profit at Rs 1,553 crore declined 28.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), but beat Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 1,087 crore by 43 per cent. The topping of the estimate was led by better-than-expected operating performance. Ebitda at Rs 2,643 crore was substantially higher than Rs 2,378-crore Bloomberg consensus estimate.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) posted a net sales at Rs 44,146 crore for the March quarter, down 14 per cent over the year-ago quarter. Inventory loss was at Rs 990 crore against Rs 1,430 crore in the year-ago period. Overall, revenues were ahead of Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 40,522 crore.

Lower crude oil prices, sharp fall in tax rate which came down from 32.7 per cent in March 2015 quarter to 27.1 per cent. This metric registered lower fall than revenues in March quarter.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an increase in investment by Bharat Petroleum Corporation in its Oman arm, Bharat Oman Refineries to a maximum of Rs 3,000 crore.

“The investment amount could be enhanced up to a maximum of Rs. 3,000 crore by way of subscription of convertible warrants/other instruments giving right to convert it into equity shares to be issued by BORL...” the government said in a release.

State-owned fuel retailer BPCL has got green nod for its Rs 694-crore project of developing LPG import terminal as well as storage, bottling and bulk distribution facilities at Haldia Dock Complex in West Bengal.

At present, domestic production of LPG is around 12.38 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa), much lower than the estimated demand of 18.65 mmtpa for this year. The proposed project aims to boost supply and help achieve the government's target of making LPG available to each household by 2018.

Shares of Bharat Petroleum were up nearly 2% at Rs 935 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said it has bought additional stake in Petronet CCK Ltd (PCL).

The company in a release said that the board of directors at its meeting held on April 11 has approved the proposal to acquire Petronet India Ltd's 26% equity in PCL at a total cost of Rs 78.60 crore.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-headed Union Cabinet on Wednesday is likely to take up a proposal that would overhaul the crude procurement process for government-owned refiners- IOC, BPCL, HPCL and MRPL. The move is aimed to make the refiners more competitive like their private peers such as RIL and Essar Oil and take benefits of spontaneous buying of cargoes.

Sources told FE that the petroleum ministry has sent the final proposal for clearance from the Union Cabinet, which is likely to decide on it on Wednesday.

Shares of oil marketing companies such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) gained on Tuesday after Credit Suisse maintained its “outperform” rating on fuel retailers, citing refining margins to remain strong for oil retailers as demand-supply tightens.

BPCL, IOC and HPCL closed 0.97 per cent, 2.10 per cent and 2.53 per cent higher at Rs 810.60, Rs 392.95 and Rs 740.40, respectively.

Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) – Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) – have rallied by up to 10% on the BSE in early morning trade after these companies reported a strong set of numbers for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q3FY16).

All these companies posted a combined net profit of Rs 5,588 crore in Q3FY16 against net loss of Rs 2,411 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. It had reported an aggregate net profit of Rs 368 crore in September 2015 quarter.

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