OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2011. Kolkata-based Assam Company India Ltd has impleaded itself in the dispute over the Amguri oilfield in Assam before the high court here. The dispute is between the Union petroleum ministry and Canoro Resources of Canada; ACIL has 40 per cent stake in the oilfield.

Accepting ACIL’s position, the court has said it will assist the new operator of the field, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in managing it. Canoro had 60 per cent stake and was the original operator. It lost this after the government, in a first-ever move of this kind, terminated the production sharing contract (PSC), in August last year.

The matter went to the high court here. Last month, a single-judge bench upheld the termination. The ministry has asked ONGC to manage the field. “In spite of the PSC termination, ACIL continues to hold 40 per cent stake and will assist ONGC in managing the field when required,” said a source.

Canoro has filed an appeal with a larger bench of the HC inst the single judge Bench order. The court is scheduled to hear the case on May 19. The Amguri field was producing about 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per da (boe) before its closure in December last year, on technical issues. According to Sproule, an internationally recognised body engaged in making resource/reserve assessments, the reserve of oil condensate and gas at Amguri stood at 12.287 million boe.

The termination, the petroleum ministry claims, was justified due to a change in the shareholding pattern of Canoro. In April last year, Canoro raised Canadian USD 95 million through a mix of debt and equity from Barbados-based Mass Financial Corp, without the ‘required consent’ of the government.

Mass Financial initially got 18 per cent equity in Canoro but after the closure of the rights issue, it now holds 52.9 per cent. In the termination order, the ministry said Canoro had violated Article 29.2 of the PSC by not seeking the government’s consent before making a “material change” in the shareholding of the company.