Oil marketing companies to watch out for on Thursday

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) have signed a consortium agreement on 7 December. These companies will carry out pre-project activities for setting up of a west coast refinery and petrochemical project of approximately 60 MMTPA capacity in Maharashtra through a joint venture company.

A significant decision came from OPEC on November 30 to cut the crude oil production by about 1.2 million barrels a day by January 2017. A reduction of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) was at the upper end of expectations (0.7-1.2 million bpd). An additional cut of 0.6 million bpd from non-OPEC countries could significantly impact oil prices. After reduction in crude oil output, the prices of crude oil in international market may rise to USD 60 per barrel in the near term.

Meanwhile, the share prices of IOCL, BPCL and HPCL increased 2.78 per cent, 3.04 per cent and 2.32 per cent on the bourses and closed at Rs 303.55, Rs 632, Rs 447.25 on intra-day basis, respectively.