ONGC, Oil India, Petronet LNG jump up to 7% amid steady rise in oil prices

Shares of oil and gas companies were trading with decent gains on Tuesday as the oil prices extended gains into the fourth straight session, amid signs that producers are cutting output as demand picks up, given more countries are relaxing the curbs imposed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

At 10:09 am, the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index was ruling over 2 per cent higher at 10,943, with ONGC (up 7 per cent) being the top gainer, followed by Petronet LNG (up 5 per cent), and Indraprastha Gas (up 2.5 per cent). Castrol India (down 0.8 per cent) was the only stock on the index that was trading in the red. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading nearly 2 per cent higher at 30,549 levels.

ONGC had hit a 52-week high of Rs 178.95 on the BSE on May 23, 2019 while its 52-week low is Rs 51.80, touched on March 13 this year. 

Oil India advanced over 5 per cet to Rs 83.75 on the BSE. 

Other stocks such as Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum gained up to 2.4 per cent. 

Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest in over two months. Brent Crude futures for July delivery rose $2.31, or 7.1 per cent, to $34.81 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained rose $2.39, or 8.1 per cent, to $31.82.

"The June WTI contract expires on Tuesday, but there was little sign of a repeat of the historic plunge below zero seen a month ago on the eve of the May contract’s expiry amid signs that demand for crude and derived fuels is recovering from its nadir. "The market was also boosted by signs that output cuts agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and others including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, are being implemented on the ground," said a Reuters report.