Cairn CEO Bill Gammell meets Pranab, Deora

December 16, 2010 03:59 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:30 pm IST - New Delhi

INDEX - Sir Bill Gammell, Chief Executive, Cairn Energy PLC at a Inward Investment Ceremony in New Delhi on July 25, 2006. Cairn Energy PLC has received final Government of India approval for the first four Field Development Plans (FDPs) for the Mangala, Aishwariya, Saraswati and Raageshwari fields in Rajasthan. Photo: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY (25/07/2006) Digital Image.

INDEX - Sir Bill Gammell, Chief Executive, Cairn Energy PLC at a Inward Investment Ceremony in New Delhi on July 25, 2006. Cairn Energy PLC has received final Government of India approval for the first four Field Development Plans (FDPs) for the Mangala, Aishwariya, Saraswati and Raageshwari fields in Rajasthan. Photo: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY (25/07/2006) Digital Image.

Seeking to push through the Cairn-Vendanta deal and get Government's approval on fast track, Cairn Energy CEO Bill Gammell met the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Murli Deora, and top officials to garner support for the $9.6-billion deal.

Mr. Gammell, on his third trip to India since announcing a prospective deal to sell up to 51 per cent stake in Cairn India on August 16, also met T. K. A. Nair, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan.

In town since Tuesday, Mr. Gammell has also met Mr. Deora. ``It was a courtesy call. I told Mr. Gammell that we will take a decision on giving approval to the deal on merit,'' Mr. Sundareshan said after the meeting. He said by February-end, the government should be able to decide whether Cairn Energy could sell its majority stake in the Indian unit to a firm with no experience in the oil sector.

Indian hydrocarbon law makes it mandatory for companies to have prior experience in order to secure a lease for exploration and production of oil and gas and the Petroleum Ministry will need to satisfy itself that Vedanta, a mining major with no oil sector experience, can satisfactorily operate Cairn's oilfields.

After having maintained that the Cairn-Vendata deal was only a corporate transaction and did not need government approval, the company was forced to re-tract its stand and formally apply for approval on November 23. “They have applied with some conditions. We are accepting it and processing it,” he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.