ONGC's m-cap slips below Rs 1 trn-mark after 15 years on oil price crash

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) hit an over 15-year low of Rs 78.05, down 12 per cent, on the BSE on Monday as oil plunged over 20 per cent today after top exporter Saudi Arabia launched a price war in response to a failure by leading producers to strike a deal to support energy markets.

ONGC has seen its steepest price correction with the stock price plunging 37 per cent in the last two months as against a 13 per cent fall in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combination of exchange traded fund (ETF) sale overhang, lower gas prices, and lower Brent prices drove the decline.

A sharp decline in market price of state-owned company pushed the company's market capitalisation (market-cap) below Rs 1 trillion-mark for the first time since August 2004. At 10:01 am, ONGC market-cap stood at Rs 98,818 crore, BSE data shows.

In the overall market cap ranking, ONGC now stands below other state-owned companies like Coal India and NTPC and private companies like Titan Company and HDFC Life Insurance Company.

Saudi Arabia launched an all-out oil war on Sunday with the biggest cut in its prices in the last 20 years, Bloomberg News reported, after a failure by cartel Organization Of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to clinch a deal to cut production. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT