No plan to transfer assets of ONGC to OIL: Govt

New Delhi: There is no proposal at present to transfer India's biggest oil and gas producer ONGC's assets to smaller PSU Oil India Ltd (OIL), Parliament was informed on Monday.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier this year written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to consider transferring all assets of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in the northeastern region to OIL. "At present, there is no proposal to transfer ONGC's assets to OIL," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. Sarma's letter to the prime minister followed the oil ministry's directive to ONGC to consider selling stakes in producing oil fields and hive off drilling and other services into a separate firm to raise production.

He had in his June 5 letter stated that both ONGC and OIL are national oil companies and hold acreage given to them on a nomination basis by the government and so, there should be "no issues in transfer of assets" from one to other. While ONGC has operations spread across the country, OIL has almost all of its production coming from the northeastern region.

"OIL is born in Assam and has been operating there for several decades. It is felt that the operations in the entire North Eastern Region may be carried out by one major operator, preferably OIL,"

Sarma had written.