BPCL shares surged as much as 3.2% to hit an intraday high of ₹289.55 on Tuesday, May 19, ahead of its earnings announcement later in the day. According to reports from Mint, the stock was mirroring gains in other state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) like Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum after the country's largest state-run OMC Indian Oil surprised market participants by posting strong March quarter earnings. As of 10:32 am, BPCL shares traded 2.58% higher at ₹288, outperforming the NIFTY50 index which was 0.4%. The positive momentum comes amid sharp surge in global crude oil prices in the last month of Q4FY26, with Brent averaging at ~USD81/bbl in Q4, up 27% QoQ, and closing higher at ~USD126/bbl.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by up to 96 paise per litre on Tuesday marking the second increase in less than a week. According to PTI citing industry sources, in Delhi, petrol prices increased by 87 paise to ₹98.64 per litre, while diesel costs ₹91.58 per litre, up 91 paise. In Mumbai, petrol retails at ₹107.59 per litre, higher by 91 paise, and diesel rose by 94 paise to ₹94.08 per litre. Kolkata saw the steepest hike in petrol price at 96 paise to ₹109.70 a litre, while diesel became expensive by 94 paise to ₹96.07 per litre. However, OMCs' diesel marketing margins turned negative to ₹1.0/ltr in Q4FY26 (vs +₹3.7/ltr in Q3FY26), while petrol margins declined 14% QoQ to ₹8.2/ltr, impacted by higher crude prices, elevated cracks, and rupee depreciation.
In a separate development, Indian Oil reported 78% year-on-year growth in its March quarter consolidated net profit for the year ended 2025-26. As per exchange filings, Indian Oil's net profit after tax (attributable to the owners) surged 78% to ₹14,458 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial year ended 2025-26, compared with ₹8,123 crore in the same period a year earlier. The company's strong net profit growth comes on the backdrop of a healthy rise in its core revenues for the period, with the company's income from the petroleum products business being the primary contributor to the positive earnings despite supply chain disruptions.
Brokerages remain mixed on BPCL's Q4 performance as they assess the impact of sharply elevated crude oil prices in the March quarter earnings. Emkay Global expects BPCL to post a 21.8% YoY and 46% QoQ decline in profit after tax to ₹3,559.4 crore for the fourth quarter of FY26, with marketing losses expected to be high on both own refinery productions and third-party product purchases. However, Kotak Institutional Equities sees PAT rising almost 75% YoY but down 25.6% QoQ, with net sales could grow 27% on a yearly basis and 20% on a quarterly basis. Crude oil prices and refining cracks witnessed a sharp uptick in Mar-26, driven by global supply disruption amid the Middle East conflict, with benchmark GRMs strengthened to USD9/bbl from USD6/bbl QoQ.
