NEW DELHI, Aug 23, (AFP): India’s state-run fuel companies may make a counterbid for oil assets owned by Britain’s Cairn Energy, which mining group Vedanta is seeking to buy, a report said Monday.
Last week, Britain-based mining giant Vedanta announced an offer worth up to $9.6 billion for 51-60 percent of Cairn India, whose most important asset is the oil-rich Mangala field in the western state of Rajasthan.
The Press Trust of India said that state-run companies Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), OIL India Ltd (OIL) and GAIL have already lined up $10 billion in loan commitments from international banks for the move.
The three firms have held informal talks on a counter-bid as the ministry examines legal options to deny Cairn approval for conclusion of its deal, the agency said, quoting sources with knowledge of developments.
The report came as India’s Oil Minister Murli Deora said the government was still undecided on whether to push for a state takeover of oil assets owned by Cairn Energy.

The oil ministry is said to be concerned about Vedanta’s bid as the London-listed company led by Indian billionaire tycoon Anil Agarwal has no experience in the energy field.
The government has written to Cairn Energy seeking details of the proposed deal and is awaiting its response. “(An) official reply from Cairn is awaited,” Deora told reporters.
The deal needs government approval because Cairn India has production-sharing contracts with it for oil and gas exploration.
Vedanta wants to make its first foray into the energy sector to take advantage of India’s rising demand for energy for its fast-growing economy.
ONGC would be the leader of the consortium with at least a 50 percent share while OIL India and GAIL would each be 20 to 25 percent partners, the Press Trust of India said, quoting sources it said were familiar with developments in the field.
ONGC already has a 30-percent holding in Cairn India’s Rajasthan oil block.
Cairn Energy Chairman Bill Gammell held talks with Indian officials in New Delhi last week to pitch for approval of the deal.

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NEW DELHI: The chief minister of a remote eastern Indian state said Monday he had won a promise from the prime minister to speed up the clearance of $12 billion steel project by South Korea’s POSCO.
But Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik failed to wrestle a similar pledge from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for another project in his home state — plans by Britain-based Vedanta for a mine on land held as sacred by an Indian tribe.
The rows over the two projects have highlighted the difficulties for India’s government in promoting economic development while safeguarding the interests of local groups who fear loss of land and livelihood.
Singh had said he would give “give a push to the (POSCO) project. He said it should be expedited,” Patnaik told reporters in New Delhi after meeting the Indian leader.
Asked about the Vedanta project, Patnaik said only that he would meet Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to discuss the resource company’s plan to mine bauxite in Orissa on land that the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe say is the home of their god Niyam Raja.
Acquisition of land for the POSCO project was blocked earlier this month after the environment ministry said the state government had falsely claimed tribals did not inhabit the area sought for the plant, despite “documentary” evidence they did. The Orissa government denied the charges.
POSCO’s plans to build a steel plant with an annual capacity of 12 million tonnes in the eastern state of Orissa have been hailed as India’s largest foreign investment since the country launched market reforms in 1991.
Both POSCO and Vedanta have said their projects will help alleviate poverty in the deeply deprived region.
The Dongria Kondh say they depend for their crops and livelihood on the remote Niyamgiri Hill range, where Vedanta’s mine is planned.
Vedanta wants the mine to secure a supply of bauxite needed for a nearby aluminium refinery, but earlier this month the project received a damaging blow when a report commissioned by the Environment Ministry said the mine would threaten the “very survival” of the tribe and have a huge environmental impact.