Raising the issue of underpayment of royalty in a letter to the Prime Minister, Gogoi said: "A special category and resource-constrained state like Assam cannot afford such a huge loss of revenue. Oil producing states like Assam should not be denied the benefits of its natural resources and made to compensate for the under-recoveries of the central oil marketing PSUs."
Gogoi referred to the verdict of Gujarat High Court on a petition filed by the government of Gujarat where it asked that royalty on crude oil be made on fair market price and not on discounted price. He also cited the Supreme Court order which stated that royalty be made by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to government of Gujarat on pre-discounted price of crude oil with effect from February 1, 2014. Gogoi said: "In view of the developments, I would request you to advise the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to give appropriate instructions to ONGC and Oil India Limited (OIL) to pay royalty on crude oil at 20 per cent of the wellhead price, in addition to VAT at 5 per cent and other state taxes at pre-discounted price to government of Assam with effect from February 1, 2014."
Gogoi also requested the prime minister for his kind intervention for withdrawal of the circular of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas issued on May 23, 2008 to facilitate the payment of arrear royalty and state taxes on crude oil to Assam and other oil producing states with retrospective effect from 2008-09.