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ONGC on Sunday maintained that it has contractual rights on the fields it jointly owns with Cairn and, therefore, had the first right of refusal for any stake sale by Cairn plc in those fields, including Rajasthan.
It, however, sees scope for quick resolution to the issues involved if there were to be bilateral discussions with Cairn plc on the Cairn-Vedanta deal.
“We have nothing against the Cairn-Vedanta deal. We want the issues to be resolved. ONGC has categorical right of first refusal. We have taken the opinion of the Solicitor-General. Cairn Energy plc does need ONGC consent for going ahead with the deal. We did not give a counter offer because we did not find the commercial valuation of the deal suiting us,” Mr R.S. Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director, told reporters here.
On the pending royalty issue, Mr Sharma said that ONGC is of the opinion that “royalty is cost recoverable as per the contracts”. He said that ONGC wants a quick resolution through bilateral discussions (of the Cairn-Vedanta deal) and that the parties need to sit together and find out a viable solution. “We will formally apprise the Government on our stand on Monday,” Mr Sharma said. ONGC board had met here on Saturday to discuss the Cairn-Vedanta deal and the issues arising from it.
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