new delhi the government will decide on reinitiating the process of bpcl strategic sale based on a review of the situation in due course parliament was informed on mondayin a written reply to the lok sabha minister of state for finance bhagwat kishanrao karad said the covid pandemic energy transition issues and geopolitical conditions affected several industries globally particularly the oil and gas industrygovernment of india has decided to call off the present eoi process for strategic disinvestment of bpcl the decision on reinitiation of the strategic disinvestment process of bpcl depends on the review of the situation in due course karad saidthe government in may withdrew its offer to sell its entire 5298 per cent stake in bpcl saying that majority of bidders have expressed their inability to participate in the current privatisation process due to prevailing conditions in the global energy marketthe government had planned to sell its entire 5298 per cent stake in bharat petroleum corporation ltd bpcl and invited expressions of interest eois from bidders in march 2020 at least three bids came in by november 2020however the privatisation was stalled after two bidders walked out over issues such as lack of clarity in fuel pricing with just one bidder left in the fraythe majority of qualified interested parties qips have expressed their inability to continue in the current process of disinvestment of bpcl karad saidmining mogul anil agarwals vedanta group us venture funds apollo global management inc and i squared capital advisors had expressed interest in buying the governments stake in bpclbut the two funds withdrew after failing to rope in global investors amid waning interest in fossil fuelsthe government had not invited financial bids