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BG seeks govt help over Panna-Mukta operatorship

British oil and gas major BG Group has requested the Union government to prevail over Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and the Reliance Industries in giving it the operatorship of Tapti gas and Panna-Mukta oil and gas fields.

The company's non-executive chairman Richard Giordano and CEO Frank Chapman flew in to New Delhi from London to make a case for BG being handed over management control of the offshore fields, where BG, ONGC and Reliance were together losing about Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) a day by way of unrealised production potential on account of under-performance while the partners squabbled over operatorship.

While Chapman, after a 50-minute meeting with Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, said BG was for maximising the value of investment for the government and the partners, Naik on his part asked BG to settle the row with partners by month-end.

Naik said additional investment of $300 to $400 million to expand the Tapti gas field could yield additional 6 million standard cubic metre per day of gas over the present production of 7.5 mmscmd.

"My eagerness is (to see) that the partners should come to an understanding at the earliest. We are interested in additional gas, which can only come when the operatorship issue is resolved and partners agree for additional investments," he told reporters after the meeting.

Naik, however, made it clear that BG, ONGC and Reliance were equally capable of operating the field and management of field cannot pass to anyone of them without the others agreeing to it.

BG top brasses are scheduled to meet senior officials of ONGC and RIL on Thursday.

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