BPCL gains after discovering natural gas in Mozambique

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 78.79 points, or 0.41%, to 19,095.25.

On BSE, 35,000 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 96,622 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 416.70 and a low of Rs 407.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 449 on 21 January 2013. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 315.60 on 26 November 2012.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 18 April 2013, rising 3.66% compared with the Sensex's 1.43% fall. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 6.61% as against Sensex's 5.10% fall.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 723.08 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

BPCL, after trading hours on Thursday, 18 April 2013, said that Anadarko Mocambique Area 1 Limitada, the operator of the offshore Area 1 block in the Rovuma basin, Mozambique, has announced the discovery of a new natural gas accumulation fully contained within the Offshore Area 1 of the Rovuma basin.

Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL, has 10% participating interest in the block. The Orca-1 discovery well encountered approximately 58 net metres of natural gas pay in a Paleocene fan system.

The operator has informed that an initial two well appraisal program is being designed to define the areal extent of the Orca field, which will commence immediately after drilling of the Linguado and Espadarte exploration wells. Orca is a single large Paleocene column, and its proximity to shore provides additional options and flexibility for potential future developments.

BPCL's net profit declined 47.5% to Rs 1647.57 crore on 6% growth in net sales to Rs 62339.84 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011.

The Government of India (GoI) holds 54.93% stake in BPCL (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 December 2012).

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