HPCL was the biggest loser among Nifty50 stocks, falling up to 7 percent followed by BPCL and IOC with 5 percent losses.
Share prices of oil retailers slipped up to 8 percent but exploration companies gained up to 1.6 percent after Brent crude hit four-year high.
HPCL was the biggest loser among Nifty50 stocks, falling up to 7.6 percent followed by BPCL (down 7.42 percent) and IOC (down 6.4 percent).
However, state-owned oil & gas exploration companies ONGC (up 0.89 percent) and Oil India (1.6 percent) were on buyers' radar.
Overall higher crude oil prices are negative for the country like India that imports more than 80 percent of its oil requirement.
Higher crude oil prices already pushed 10-year government bond yields by 10 basis points to 7.48 percent and dragged rupee by 15 paise to 65.15 against the US dollar.
Oil prices cooled off after hitting highest levels since 2014 as markets eyed an escalation of Middle East tensions after Europe's air traffic control agency warned of possible air strikes on Syria in the next 72 hours.
Brent crude futures were trading at USD 70.77 per barrel, down 0.38 percent from their last close. Brent surged more than 3 percent on Tuesday to hit its highest level since late 2014, at USD 71.34 a barrel.
US WTI crude futures were at USD 65.36 a barrel, down 0.23 percent from their last settlement.
