OREANDA-NEWS. March 17, 2011. Cairn Energy and petroleum ministry will discuss the issue of ONGC royalty today and will also see if April 15 can be the deadline date to approve the much-awaited USD 9.6 billion Cairn-Vedanta deal, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting government sources. It is learnt that along with the petroleum ministry, finance ministry also willing to reduce ONGC royalty.

Sources also said that the government is in a mood to somehow make the deal go through. However, if the deal fails, ONGC would continue to pay high royalty and thus, would end up getting no benefits. “It will be a good opportunity to reduce burden of Maharatna PSUs,” added sources.

Though the deal is stuck without final approval, Stephen Green, minister of state for trade and investment, UK, said that he has raised and discussed all relevant issues with oil minister Jaipal Reddy. “The British government is not disappointed by the delays facing the deal,” he added.