| Last year the Gujarat High Court had ordered EOL to conduct the debenture holders' meeting at the earliest. |
| Meanwhile, the Centre has asked Essar Oil Ltd (EOL) to resubmit an undertaking that the company would not sell its stake in the Ratna and R-series oil fields in Mumbai offshore. |
| EOL has a majority stake (50 per cent) in the consortium, which holds the exploration and production rights for the oil fields. The project was awarded to the consortium in 1995. |
| The order is expected to lend momentum to the project as once the undertaking is submitted, EOL will be able to sign the production-sharing as well as other pacts with the ministries of petroleum, finance and environment and forest. |
| The Centre's decision was taken at a meeting of the negotiating team of secretaries (NTS) held in New Delhi on Monday. |
| EOL officials declined to comment on the development while sources close to the company said, "Earlier also we had given the undertaking before the government that EOL is not willing to offload its 50 percent stake in the oil fields. We are ready to resubmit the undertaking. All primary studies, including initial geo-physical studies, have confirmed rich oil reserves in these fields." |
| Though EOL had conducted primary studies to estimate the oil reserve and the viability of the field long back, nothing much has happened so far. |
| This had raised doubts that the company might offload its stake in the project to another company. |
| Once work is on, the project is expected to take three-five years to begin commercial production. The fields have estimated oil reserves of over 100 million barrels. |
| Other members of the consortium are Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and British-oil major Premier Oil Plc. ONGC holds a 40 per cent stake in the project, while Premier Oil has a 10 per cent stake. |
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