Refinery stocks on fire as oil index hits peak

Refinery stocks were on a roll on the bourses on Thursday, with stocks of most of the state-run oil companies closing at their all-time highs.

The refinery scrips gained in the range of 10 per cent to 30 per cent on hopes that the government might provide tax benefits or increase the number oil bonds to bring down their losses on account of rising crude oil prices.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (Rs 131.80), Chennai Petroleum Corporation (Rs 424) and Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals (Rs 107.60) from the public sector and Essar Oil (Rs 166.50) from the private sector closed at their life-time highs on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Indian Oil Corporation (Rs 614.75) scaled the 52-week peak, while HPCL (Rs 306.80) and BPCL (Rs 438.50) were hovering over their one-year high prices of Rs 330 and Rs 448.10 respectively. 
 

WAITING FOR A TAX BREAK
Price in Rs	Oct 15	Nov 15	%chg
Essar Oil	56.5	157.7	179.0
MRPL	63.1	128.0	102.9
BRPL	65.0	105.0	61.5
Chennai Petro	284.0	401.0	41.2
IOC	449.9	596.0	32.5
HPCL	246.0	299.9	21.9
BPCL	360.2	427.0	18.6
RPL	181.1	212.3	17.2
RIL	2664.2	2871.7	7.8

The BSE Oil and Gas Index that tracks the price movements of refinery stocks on Thursday closed at a new peak. The index, which was the second-largest gainer, appreciated by 177 points compared with the 144-point drop in the Sensex.

The oil and gas index closed 12,315.88, recording a 1.45 per cent rise over the previous day's close of 12,138.87. The Sensex closed 0.72 per cent down at 19,784.89 (19,929.06) on BSE.

The oil and gas index appreciated 12 per cent against a 3.8 per cent rise in the Sensex in the last one month. The index has almost doubled in the last one year, appreciating by 98 per cent from 6,217.06 on November 15, 2006, to the current level, against a 47 per cent rise in the Sensex from 13,469.37 during the same period.

The scrip of Essar Oil, the private sector refiner, rose 31 per cent to close at Rs 157.65 against Tuesday's close of Rs 120.80 on BSE.

The stock has appreciated 157 per cent in the last one week from Rs 61.30 on November 7, on reports that the company will hike petrol and diesel prices. The board of directors of the company will meet on November 16 to consider further issue of securities to promoters.

Among the public sector companies, Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals was the largest gainer, appreciating by more than 30 per cent to close at Rs 104.95 on Thursday against the previous day's close of Rs 80.65 on BSE.

The MRPL scrip gained 22 per cent to Rs 127.95 (Rs 104.80), followed by BPCL 18 per cent to Rs 427 (Rs 361.80), HPCL 15 per cent to Rs 299.85 (Rs 261), Chennai Petroleum 12 per cent to Rs 400.95 (Rs 358.60) and IOC 10 per cent to Rs 596 (Rs 540.70).

However, Reliance Industries declined marginally by 0.55 per cent to Rs 2,871.70 (Rs 2,887.50) and Reliance Petroleum dropped 1.16 per cent to Rs 212.25 (Rs 214.75).