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The disinvestment plans for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) are not on the table currently, a report by The Economic Times (ET) quoted oil and petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri as saying.
In May, the centre stopped all the disinvestment-related activities of the public entity. In August, reports stated that the government would soon re-initiate the proceedings. However, the plans seem to be stalled as of now.
The government currently owns a 52.98 per cent stake in the oil major. It had sought to sell its entire stake in the disinvestment process.
Minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad said that investors had expressed their inability to continue with the disinvestment process owing to geopolitical and energy transition issues.
In May, two out of three bidders had walked away from the process due to a lack of clarity on the pricing, ET added. The three bidders were Vedanta Group, Apollo Global Management Inc and I Squared Capital Advisors.
The ongoing war in Ukraine has exacerbated the geopolitical complications. Both the countries involved in the war, Ukraine and Russia, are major suppliers of oil and natural gas to countries across the world.
Brent crude oil prices have shot up from $70 per barrel in November 2021 to $94 per barrel in October 2022. They have stayed above the $100-mark for a considerable part of 2022.
However, Russia is providing oil at discounted rates to India. The government has stood by its decision to buy the oil at a discounted price despite several allegations by western countries.
