Premier Oil may bid in NELP

British exploration company Premier Oil plans to bid in the sixth round of the National Exploration Licensing Policy.

It is in talks with various companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Oil India Ltd and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company, for participation in the round.

Premier Oil, which already has a block along with Indian Oil in Calcher in Assam, was mainly interested in the Mumbai High basin, Cambay Basin, Cauvery basin and Mizoram, a company executive said.

The official said the company would soon start drilling a well in the Assam block and had contracted the oil rigs. He said Premier's major investment in India hinged on resolution of the signing of the production-sharing contract for the Ratna fields that was awarded in 1996.

While Premier has a 10 per cent stake in the fields, ONGC has a 40 per cent stake and Essar owns a 50 per cent interest. A recent meeting of secretaries had decided that since the field was awarded in 1996, royalty rates and oil cess rates that were in use at the time were applicable.

Accordingly, royalty would be at the rate of Rs 528 per metric tonnes of crude and cess would be charged at Rs 900 per metric tonne.

It was decided that ONGC would be given 45 days to resolve the issue pending which a replacement would be found. However, as the minutes of the meeting are yet to be signed by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, the matter is still hanging fire.

On dealing with local resistance in the north-east, the executive said Premier was involved in social projects in Assam. In fact, it now planned to set up a fisheries farm in the area.