Oil stocks tank up to 12%

Shares of oil marketing firms HPCL, BPCL and IOC plummeted up to 12 per cent Thursday after the government announced Rs 2.50 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices as it reduced excise duty and asked oil companies to absorb another Re 1.

The scrip of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) tanked 12.23 per cent to end at Rs 220.60, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) plunged 10.89 per cent to Rs 336.35 and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) tumbled 10.57 per cent to Rs 140.85 on BSE.

The government Thursday announced Rs 2.50 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices after it reduced excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre and asked oil companies to absorb another Re 1.

The move to ask state-owned oil firms, who were given pricing freedom, to absorb Re 1 per litre was seen as a return of government control over pricing, leading to stocks of IOC, BPCL and HPCL tanking.