Gandhinagar: It seems the meeting between Gujarat Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister and union finance minister in Delhi recently has brought positive result for Gujarat. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) has agreed to release outstanding oil royalty of Rs 8,000 crore to Gujarat government which was due for about three years. As per a report on a business news channel, ONGC will pay 15%(Rs 1,200 crore) in current financial year while remaining 85%(around Rs 6,800 crore) will be released in the next financial year.The pending royalty means 20% royalty on crude oil produced in Gujarat on the discounted price at which crude is supplied to oil marketing firms and not on the market price. In February 2014, the Supreme Court had directed ONGC to pay royalty at the market price. Rs 8,000 crore payment to Gujarat is equal to almost 50% of ONGC profit in financial year 2015-16.

DeshGujarat