Cairn's wait continues, NOC for Vedanta on hold again

The saga of clearances for Cairn-Vedanta continues with oil ministry sources today saying that the home ministry was yet to provide security clearance to the deal, reports CNBC-TV18's Siddharth Zarabi.

Officials said no timeline could be suggested for the security nod, adding that Cairn executives Bill Gamell and Rahul Dhir are scheduled to meet Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy, later in the evening today. The long awaited No Objection Certificate (NOC) from ONGC to Cairn for the Vendata deal has gone been backtrack yet again. And, it is now going to be a longer wait for that deal to materialize. On September 27, the ONGC board had actually agreed to give that NOC provided they got a written pact from Cairn India for withdrawing the cess arbitration and also working out as far as a contentious royalty issue is concerned. However, sources have said that Cairn India expects home ministry nod for Vedanta deal next week. According to Cairn sources, they don't have any major issues pending with ONGC too. Cairn will have to reimburse ONGC for the royalty that ONGC has been paying on the behalf of Cairn at the Barmer oilfield and this is where the complication is lying.