ONGC to appeal court order on royalty payments

摘要

New Delhi—India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. plans to appeal against a recent ruling by the Gujarat High Court on production royalties that could cost the state-owned upstream company up to Rupees 100 billion ($1.6 billion). ONGC has been paying royalties to the state government of Gujarat on crude oil production at the net price it gets after offering discounts to state-owned refiners as part of the central government’s subsidy-sharing regime from 2004. Before that, ONGC paid a royalty based on the gross price of the crude. Last month, the Gujarat High Court told ONGC to pay the difference in royalty it owes the state government within two months and also pay future royalties based on the gross price, Press Trust of India reported.