BPCL petrol filling station near Nakirekal

The Government of India has reportedly said that the strategic stake sale of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is likely to proceed as planned, without any need to extend the deadline for the bidding process.

The deadline for submission of an expressions of interest (EoI) for a 52.98% stake in the BPCL will end on 31 July, reported IANS.

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As per the disinvestment plan, the Indian Government will sell its entire stake in the state-owned firm and will transfer the management control to a strategic investor.

The government has excluded PSUs from bidding for the stake. The government expects Indian players in the private sector and global oil and gas majors to bid for its interest.

According to official sources, Saudi Aramco, Adnoc, Rosneft and Exxon Mobil intend to participate in the bidding process for the public sector unit (PSU).

Indian oil major Reliance Industries (RIL) has reportedly shown an interest in participating in the bidding process.

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The 52.98% stake constitutes approximately 1,149,183,592 equity shares owned by the Government of India through the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The majority of petrol pumps in India are currently owned by state-owned oil marketing companies BPCL, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

In June last year, BPCL, HPCL and IOC signed a joint venture (JV) agreement, which will see BPCL and HPCL each own a 25% stake in IOC’s LPG pipeline project.

In March, BPCL awarded British oilfield services firm Petrofac a $135m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Kochi refinery in Kerala, India.

In November 2019, India introduced a new liberalised policy that requires licensees to set up at least 100 outlets.