
Administrateur du site
Messages: 4400
Inscription: Jeu 30 Juil 2009 16:48
Localisation: la seyne sur mer
suite du feuilleton : Compensate ONGC from $14-billion profi
Cairn Energy Plc is soon expected to ask the government to use part of its profits from the oil production in Rajasthan to compensate state-owned ONGC, which foots the entire royalty bill on the oil output despite having only 30% stake in the project.
ONGC was given the project stake free of cost after the oil discovery in return for meeting the entire 20% royalty because India needed foreign investors in the 1990s in the risky and capital-intensive business of oil exploration. With Cairn now planning to sell its majority stake in its India business to UK's Vedanta Resources for $9.6 billion, ONGC wants the royalty burden to be shared proportionate to its interest.
According to analysts tracking Cairn, the Centre would get roughly $14 billion over the next 20 years from the Barmer field’s output, while ONGC’s royalty burden would be close to $5 billion. As per a deal with Cairn, the government is entitled to 50% of profits from the oilfield operated by Cairn.
Ads by Google
Besides, the government also gets a cess of Rs 2,500 a tonne and the 33% corporate tax on the profits of Cairn India. So far, Cairn has paid a cess of close to $250 million to the central government.
The government had said it would process Cairn's $9.6-billion sale of majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources “on merits.” The ministry is contemplating several riders, including making ONGC's royalty liability a recoverable cost, which would reduce the project's profits. Recoverable costs are adjusted against revenue before arriving at the net profit. This is not acceptable to Cairn and Vedanta as it would depress the valuation of the company.