The deadline for sale of entire government stakes in India’s second largest oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) has been pushed by over a month to June 13. A government notice said that the extension has been announced in “view of the requests received from the interested bidders and the prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19”.
As per the offer document the public sector undertakings (PSUs) “are not eligible to participate” in the privatisation process. To qualify for the bid, any private company or a consortium of not more than four firms should have a net worth of USD 10 billion.
The buyers will get 14 per cent of India’s oil refining capacity and about one-fourth of the fuel market share in world’s energy market.
At the current prices the government share is worth about Rs 36,159 crore.
BPCL has four refineries in the country with a totalcapacity of 38.3 million tonnes per annum.It also owns 15,177 petrol pumps and 6,011 LPG distributor agencies in the country.
