India's HPCL drops after posting first quarterly loss since 2022 as crude soars

Bharat Petroleum

23/07/2026 05:21

** Hindustan Petroleum Corp HPCL.NS falls as much as 4.7% to one-month low of 376.55 rupees
** Oil marketing company posts first quarterly loss since 2022 as crude prices soar
** Reports Q1 net loss of 115.26 billion rupees ($1.19 billion) vs profit of 43.71 billion rupees a year ago
** Citi says HPCL's Q1 losses significantly higher than anticipated, underperforms peer BPCL BPOCL.NS
** Morgan Stanley says HPCL's per barrel loss was $20, while that of BPCL was $8.4
** While the worst of Iran war-driven impact is likely behind, analysts expect further pressure in current quarter as renewed Middle East tensions push crude prices higher
** Brent crude futures LCOc1 up 32% so far in July to $96.5 per barrel
** HPCL rated "hold", on average, by 31 analysts, median PT 410 rupees
** YTD, HPCL down 22.7%

($1 = 96.5175 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)
 ((VivekKumar.M@thomsonreuters.com;))