Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies (OMC) were trading weak with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) hitting a 52-week low of Rs 363.60 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on Wednesday.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) were down 1% to 2%, as compared to 0.07% rise in the Nifty 50 index.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Wednesday said it has bought government's entire 51.11 per cent stake in oil refiner HPCL for Rs 369 billion.

In a regulatory filing, ONGC said it bought 778.8 million shares in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) for Rs 473.97 per share.

Oil and gas explorer ONGC has entered into short-term loan agreements with three banks to part-fund its acquisition of HPCL. Accordingly, the company has entered into agreements with PNB, Axis Bank and Bank of India on January 22 for loans totalling to Rs 18,060 crore. As per a BSE filing made on late Tuesday evening, the agreements are for short-term loans to part-finance the acquisition of HPCL.

HPCL may acquire Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in a cash and share- swap deal to become India's third-largest oil refiner, a top official said.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), India's biggest oil and gas producer, last week announced acquisition of HPCL for Rs 369.15 billion. After this takeover, ONGC has two refining subsidiaries - HPCL and MRPL.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has surged 6% to Rs 206 on BSE in early morning trade after the state-owned oil exploration company announced that it will acquire the 51.1% government stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) at a cost of Rs 369.15 billion.

ONGC will acquire the government stake in HPCL by paying Rs 473.97 per share which works out to a 14% premium to HPCL’s closing market price of Rs 417 on Friday, 19 January.

Riding on the back of expected HPCL-ONGC deal, the government is eyeing to end FY18 with record disinvestment receipts of over Rs 90,000 crore as against the Budget target of Rs 72,500 crore, media sources reported. It is almost the double of over Rs 46,000 crore recorded last year. However, the exact amount to be raised after stake sale in HPCL is still uncertain. The deal, if finalized by March this year, should raise over Rs 30,000 for the government.The fiscal deficit reached Rs 6.12 trillion or 112% of the full-year budget during eight months to November.

The Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD) headed by the Cabinet secretary has approved the broad contours of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s proposed acquisition of the government’s 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, paving the way for the transaction later this month, sources said. The deal would boost non-tax revenues of the Centre considerably as proceeds from disinvestment alone would be about Rs 1 lakh crore as against the Budget target of Rs 72,500 crore this year.

State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Hindustan Petroleum Corp are looking for a solution to the high card transaction fees for petrol and diesel purchases.

OMCs want banks to cut the card transaction fees on petrol and diesel purchases by half, Livemint reported while citing four people aware of the development.

The tussle between auto fuel dealers and the government over minimum wages for over one million petrol pump staff has intensified with the dealers getting stay orders from Ernakulam and Jammu high courts among others.

On August 4, the government made it mandatory for retail outlets to pay Central minimum wages to retail outlet attendants.

MUMBAI: State-run oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum on Monday asked Airtel Payments Bank to immediately transfer the cooking gas subsidies it had got back to the bank accounts of customers or to the oil companies.

The move comes after LPG subsidies of millions of customers have been crdited to the Airtel Payments Bank accounts without their permission.

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