New Delhi, Nov. 30: The government will decide on giving approval to the $9.6 billion Cairn-Vedanta deal by February-end, the oil secretary, Mr S. Sundare-shan, has said on Monday.
“I had earlier given a timeline of December-end (for deciding on giving approval to Vedanta Resources, buying majority stake in Cairn India) on the presumption that it will take two to three months to process (the case) from the date we get all applications,” he said.
“But given that we have got the application (seeking approval) only last week, we will certainly be able to decide on the case by February-end,” the oil secretary added.
After months of dithering, the United Kingdom’s Cairn Energy on November 25 applied for government nod to transfer control in its three producing assets, including the prolific Rajasthan fields to Vedanta Resources.
Mr Sundareshan said that the oil ministry had told Cairn that it would have to apply for approval in all of its 10 assets for the government to consider giving consent to the deal.
Three separate applications were made for the Barmer oil fields in Rajasthan, the eastern offshore Ravva oil and gas fields and the Cambay fields off the west coast, which had previously been omitted from the applications for government approval. “Yes, we have got the applications in last two to three days,” Mr Sundareshan said.
Cairn Energy had on August 16 announced sale of 40-51 per cent stake in its Indian unit to London-listed Vedanta, but has been selective in approaching government for approval for the deal.
The applications stated that the company’s legal advisers had stated that the consent of the government was not required for transfer of control in a company holding interest in the three blocks that were awarded prior to advent of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).
NELP explicitly has such provisions and so Cairn had sought government nod for seven exploration acreage it has.
Cairn in its application last week had stated that it was applying for the government consent on being asked to do so by the oil ministry, which backed its claim for prior approval based on an opinion by the law ministry.