BPCL shares plunge 5% as major energy companies including RIL, Saudi Aramco and BP skip the race for stake sale

Mumbai, Shares of the state-run petroleum major Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) fell nearly five per cent a day after the deadline for submitting bids for the strategic sale of the company ended.

Investor sentiments dampened as major energy giants including Reliance Industries, Saudi Aramco, BP gave the bidding process a miss and did not submit Expressions of Interest for the 52.98 per cent of the stake on sale.

Shares of BPCL on the BSE plunged 4.9 per cent to touch an intra-day low of Rs 392.35 per share.

At 10.54 a.m., it was at Rs 397.70, lower by 3.63 per cent from its previous close.

The government on Monday said that multiple EoIs have been received for divestment of Centre's stake in the company.

Sources, however, said that several global players did not pitch in for the stake sale. Total and Russia's Rosneft also did not bid for the stake sale.

The lack of interest among the major players comes on the back of the poor oil demand globally amid the pandemic and low oil prices.

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