BPCL to consider 100% ownership of Bina refinery
Clearing the decks for the privatisation process, state-run oil refiner and marketer BPCL on Tuesday said the company’s board would on Wednesday take a call on buying a 36.6% equity share in Bharat Oman Refineries (BORL) — the unit that runs the 7.8 million tonne Bina refinery — from OQ S.A.O.C (formerly known as Oman Oil Company). BPCL already owns the majority 63.4% stake in BORL. Sector experts believe the acquisition of the remaining stake will smoothen the divestment process of the government’s 52.98% stake in the oil marketing firm.
BPCL added the board will also deliberate on the merger of Bharat Gas Resources, currently its wholly-owned subsidiary, with the holding company. Bharat Gas was formed in 2019 for better focus on gas business in 37 geographical areas across the country.
The BPCLstock closed at Rs 398.7 on the BSE on Tuesday, falling 1.74% over Monday’s closing. “The government is preparing to divest a stake in BPCL and many recent actions appear to be in the direction of making the divestment successful,” Deepak Mahurkar, partner, PwC, told FE.
BPCL owns and operates four refineries (Mumbai, Kochi, Bina and Numaligarh) in India, comprising 15% of the country’s 250 million tonne refining capacity; it also has over a quarter of the retail market share through a 17,000-plus strong retail fuel outlet network in the country.
