Weeks after the coronavirus lockdown led to fuel sales nosediving to record lows, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, sees demand returning with the resumption of economic activities.

The company said though it is on track to spend the approved capital expenditure for 2020-21, it has critically examined all capex proposals for rationalisation of cost and time frame.

Investor sentiment towards state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) such as Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil (IOC) has improved sharply with crude oil prices falling to 18 year low. Shares of the OMCs, after hitting 52-week lows recently, rebounded by up to 15 per cent on Tuesday. And, they could see further gains.

The soft crude oil prices bode well for these companies, which may see a rise in their marketing margins, decline in working capital requirements and zero risks of subsidy burden.

Amid coronavirus lockdown, the state-run oil marketing company Indian Oil has said it has enough supplies of LPG cylinders and appealed customers to avoid panic booking as ‘one cylinder in 15 days’ norm is in place.

IOCL delivers cooking gas cylinders to 11 crore households across the country.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is looking to set up an LPG bottling plant in Mizoram, besides upgrading 100 retail outlets across the Northeast in the next financial year, a senior official said.

The company is currently in talks with the Mizoram government for setting up the bottling plant in the state, said G Ramesh, chief general manager of the IOC.

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs), including Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), skid up to 4 per cent on the BSE after oil prices rose for the second straight day on Wednesday.

At 9:43 am, Brent Crude Futures were at $38.45 per barrel-mark, up 3.3 per cent, while the US WTI was at $35.26/bbl, up 2.62 per cent. This comes after an over 8 per cent rise in the oil prices on Tuesday. Prices inched higher on hopes of a supply cut by US producers.

Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, will invest $1.94 billion to expand the capacity of its Barauni refinery in eastern Bihar state by 50 per cent to 180,000 barrels per day by April 2023, the company said on Friday.

The state-run company is raising its refining capacity to meet growing demand for petroleum products in the country.

Shares of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) were under pressure with Nifty CPSE index falling 3 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India and Coal India dipped more than 4 per cent in the intra-day trade. NTPC, Bharat Electronics, Power Finance Corporation (PFC), NBCC, NLC India and Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) were down in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent on the NSE.

Shares of oil & gas companies, tyre, paint, and aviation firms were under pressure on Monday as oil prices continued to surge after US President Donald Trump issued a threat to impose sanctions on Iraq amid escalating tensions with Iran in the Middle East.

At 09:40 am, Brent crude futures were trading 2.70 per cent higher at 70.45 USD/bbl while WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) were trading at 64.54 USD/bbl, up over 2 per cent.

Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s top refiner, is in talks with oil major Rosneft to explore possibility of importing Russian oil, its chairman Sanjiv Singh said on Tuesday.

We have taken very small quantities from Russia in the past which cant be considered significant so we are trying to explore if we can increase the Russian crude volume coming to India...We are in discussion with Rosneft and we are hopeful that something should work, Singh told reporters at an energy conference.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) shares slipped as much as 4.42 per cent to Rs 140.30 apiece on the BSE on Friday after the company reported 83 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in profit before tax (PBT) at Rs 814.48 crore for the quarter ending September, owing to higher inventory losses and a decline in refinery margin. It had recorded Rs 4,805.74 crore PBT during the same period last year.

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