Vedanta ready to raise govt’s share of profit by 10%

The battle between the Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta and the government over the terms of extension of the production sharing contract (PSC) for the company’s Rajasthan petroleum block has taken a fresh twist. There has been an agreement to increase the government’s share of profit by 10 per cent, until the ongoing legal battle gets over. The case is currently before a bench at the high court (HC) here; the latter asked the ministry of petroleum in September to decide Vedanta’s application on extension in two months. “Since the legal process is going on and the case is likely to go to the Supreme Court, we have requested the government to give us extension with a 10 per cent increase in royalty, as they wanted. Let the legal process take its own course. Whatever the verdict of the court, we will accept that,” said Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources.

OALP contracts

Also on Monday, the government signed contracts with six companies for the 55 oil and gas blocks on offer under the first round of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).

Of these, 41 blocks were given to Vedanta; Oil India got nine. The remaining oness were shared between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (two) and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company, Bharat Petro Resources and GAIL with one each. Addressing the event, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government expected reserves worth around ~1.45 trillion in these 55 blocks. “We have already got firm investment commitment of ~59 billion for these blocks in the exploration stage,” he said.