OMCs

India's three state-run fuel retailers earned a combined standalone net profit of Rs 30,106 crore in the July-September quarter, nearly 39 per cent of their annual earnings, after a refining margin boost and inventory gains helped more than offset losses on fuel sales and a mounting unpaid LPG subsidy bill. The combined profit of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is 68.3 per cent more than their earnings in the same period last year and a swing from a combined loss of about Rs 18,150 crore in the previous April-June quarter, according to company filings. The July-September quarter alone equals about 39 per cent of the three companies' combined FY26 (April 2025 to March 2026 financial year) profit of Rs 77,281 crore. The boost in earnings came despite petrol and diesel prices remaining on freeze since May and unchanged domestic LPG rates since March, despite a surge in benchmark prices and input crude

Clean toilets at petrol pumps may seem like a small amenity, but oil marketing companies are seeking to make them a visible measure of customer service, with senior executives personally leading inspections of washrooms across the country and QR codes inviting travellers to rate their experience. Under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' Swachhata Abhiyan, public-sector oil marketing companies are stepping up checks and maintenance of toilets at retail fuel outlets, seeking to turn a cleanliness drive into a lasting customer-service commitment rather than a temporary campaign. The message is increasingly coming from the top. Directors (Marketing) of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IndianOil) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) have taken to inspecting outlets themselves, spotlighting clean facilities and reinforcing the expectation that hygienic washrooms should be part of the service motorists can count on when they pull into a petrol pump. During visits to COCO BKC and

With retail diesel prices frozen, state-run oil firms are blending up to 5% biodiesel at select outlets as crude costs rise and marketing margins come under pressure

State-run oil marketing companies have barred ethanol made from sugarcane juice, sugar syrup and B-heavy molasses from their latest procurement tender for the 2026-27 supply year for blending in petrol, as the government seeks to protect domestic sugar supplies while sustaining its nationwide petrol-blending programme. The tender, issued on October 16 by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on behalf of oil marketing companies (OMCs), seeks bids for around 11 billion litres of ethanol for the supply year beginning November to meet the requirement of doping 20 per cent ethanol in petrol. It also cuts the incentive for maize-based ethanol, lowering the procurement price to Rs 68.86 per litre from Rs 71.86. "The Government of India has issued directions that sugar diversion for ethanol be reduced to zero for ethanol supply year 2026-27," the tender document said. "No offers have been sought for ethanol produced from sugarcane juice, sugar or sugar syrup and B-heavy molasses in this

Underrecoveries reach Rs 8/litre on petrol and Rs 9/litre on diesel in September

State-run oil marketing companies are facing mounting losses on petrol and diesel sales as a surge in crude prices outpaces unchanged domestic fuel prices, rating agency ICRA said. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) are losing Rs 8 a litre on petrol, and Rs 9 on diesel, while under-recoveries on domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stood at about Rs 300 per cylinder, ICRA said. "At these levels, the daily loss to the OMCs is estimated at Rs 530 crore," ICRA said. Crude oil prices have risen sharply in recent weeks amid escalating geopolitical tensions and supply disruptions in West Asia. The surge was driven by renewed US-Iran conflict, the shutdown of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline and heightened Houthi activities in the Red Sea. The price of the basket of crude oil India imports rose to USD 117.4 per barrel as on September 21, 2026, from the 2025-26 average of around USD 66 a barrel. "The ...

Equirus Securities sees HPCL as the most vulnerable among major oil marketers, while BPCL is relatively better placed due to stronger integration and distillate yields

OMCs are likely to report sequential improvement in Q2FY27 on stronger refining margins and lower LPG under-recoveries, but H2FY27 faces significant downside risks

Oil at $100: OMC stocks have already been punished significantly, and therefore investors are not reacting in panic after such a major fall, believe analysts.

OMCs are losing ₹5 a litre on petrol and ₹23 on diesel as Brent crude crosses $100 a barrel, while escalating US-Iran tensions add to India's energy supply risks

The ratings agency estimates that an integrated OMC's operating profit would turn negative at around $115 a barrel, assuming no further increase in petrol and diesel retail prices.

Suppliers without long-term offtake agreements will be treated on a par with other bidders under the interim arrangement accepted by the Supreme Court

Elevated crude prices against the backdrop of the West Asia crisis remained the key factor that roiled the OMCs' Q1 earnings performance.

Higher crude prices, a weaker rupee, elevated insurance costs and delayed fuel price hikes are expected to weigh on the June-quarter earnings of state-run oil marketing companies

Nomura said that elevated crude oil prices are negative for OMCs' marketing margins and CGDs' input costs, while positive for upstream realisations in the near term.

Analysts and the government differ on fuel under-recoveries as crude prices ease, highlighting contrasting views on OMC margins and India's fuel pricing formula

High crude oil prices pushed state-run oil retailers into massive under-recoveries despite fuel price hikes, while LPG sales continued to remain loss-making, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said

Commercial LPG prices have been reduced by ₹183.50 as fuel supplies improve after the West Asia crisis, but there is no change in domestic LPG cylinder prices

Ministry says reports misrepresented the Attorney General's submissions before the Supreme Court on ethanol allocation and stressed the national E20 programme was never described as an experiment

Every time India has faced a major crisis - whether devastating floods, a once-in-a-century pandemic or the latest conflict in West Asia that threatened global oil supplies - it has been the country's state-run oil companies that have quietly kept fuel flowing. For decades, India's public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) have often been criticised for low returns, government intervention in fuel pricing and bloated operations. They have twice been put on the block for privatisation, with plans to sell Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) gathering momentum in 2002 before being halted by a Supreme Court ruling and again in 2020, before the process was abandoned after failing to attract enough bids. Yet every national emergency has reinforced why governments have been reluctant to loosen their grip on companies that control the country's energy lifeline, analysts and industry officials said. When unprecedented floods submerged Chennai in