Our Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, Dec 4: Tel Pathar Sangram Parishad (TPSP) has demanded an inquiry into the decreasing oil and gas production of ONGC’s Assam Asset. “Despite having adequate reserves in its oil and gas fields, the ONGC has failed to increase production in the State,” said CPI leader and former State Minister Pramod Gogoi, while interacting with the media at Hotel Brindavan in Sivasagar on Thursday.
“A section of top ONGC officials has been hatching a conspiracy to reduce oil and gas production in Assam, to pave the way for privatization of the Assam Asset,” he said. Demanding an independent inquiry, Gogoi said that all officials responsible for decrease in production should be punished. “Even retired officials should not be spared,” he said.
Referring to the clarification issued by the ONGC in various newspapers regarding the decreasing production and creation of a subsidiary of the ONGC for the oil and gas resources of Assam, Gogoi said that the ONGC’s clarification vindicated the concern of TPSP. “We have been demanding the withdrawal of any move by the government to create a subsidiary for the Assam Asset. The clarification itself established the fact that the government has been preparing plans to create a subsidiary,” he said.
Speaking on losses made by the ONGC from the Assam Asset business, Gogoi said that ONGC’s operations in Tripura and Nagaland were funded by the Assam Asset. “The operations in these two States were recently separated from the Assam Asset after ONGC ensured profits from operations in these two states,” Gogoi said.
“The ONGC does not have any subsidiary in India. It has only one subsidiary – ONGC Videsh Limited – to conduct exploration and production in the rest of the world. It was able to turn around the loss making Mangalore Refinery and Petroleum Limited (MRPL) in a year after taking over the company. It is anybody’s guess why it has not been able to increase production in the State,” he said.
“The Assam Asset is still being able to produce 1.3 mmt oil at present. But the ONGC is continuing exploration in the CBM-BPM basin in West Bengal and Frontier Basin in Uttarakhand for a long time despite failing to produce a single drop of oil from these two basins,” he said. Gogoi was of the opinion that creation of a subsidiary, whether wholly owned or in a joint venture, would not serve the purpose of better production.
“The government should conduct an independent inquiry into the decreasing oil and gas production to find out the root cause,” he said. “Creation of a wholly owned subsidiary of the ONGC would necessitate the formation of a separate Board of Directors with its own articles and memorandum of association. Creation of a subsidiary can never guarantee better oil and gas productivity. On the other hand, it threatens to make things worse. It is better to increase production in the Assam Asset in the present set-up, rather than making things complex through creation of a wholly-owned subsidiary,” he said.
Gogoi also referred to news reports regarding finding of uranium reserves in a few oil fields of upper Assam. “The ONGC chairman had recently divulged about the findings of traces of radioactivity at a few oil wells of Assam. If the reports are true, Assam is soon set to become the most sought after State in India,” he said.
Meanwhile, the TPSP held an emergency executive meeting at Sivasagar on Thursday and decided to continue a series of agitation demanding the withdrawal of the petroleum ministry’s move to create the subsidiary.
The organization has called a citizens meet in Sivasagar on December 15 to discuss their future course of action. The organization has invited different organizations, public representatives, prominent citizens and the media from the three districts of Sivasagar, Jorhat and Golaghat to the meeting. THE SENTINEL
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