Singh's chance encounter with TN minister
Chance encounters can often lead to opportunities.
ONGC chairman Arun Singh's visit to the Cauvery asset this month (March 2024) led to a chance meeting with the Tamil Nadu industries minister TRB Rajaa at Trichy airport. Singh was waiting for his flight back to Delhi on March 10 (2024) when he ran into Rajaa.
"They spoke in the airport lounge for about 40 minutes," says a source. He speculates that the conversation would have given Singh an opportunity to raise questions about how the state's legislation obstructs E&P and how local activists are disrupting workovers and rig movements.
Under the Tamil Nadu Protected Agriculture Zone Development Act, 2020, drilling is banned in the oil-rich Cauvery delta, including Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts and some areas of Cuddalore and Pudukottai districts; Mayiladuthurai district has also joined the list of no-go areas. On March 11 (2024), ONGC was forced to stop a workover at sick well Kuthalam-2 in Mayiladuthurai after protestors petitioned the district collector.
While work paused, the activists again approached the administration on March 13 (2024), prompting ONGC managers from Karaikal to rush to Mayiladuthurai. "We don't want to upset people unnecessarily when national elections are approaching," says an ONGC source.
On March 16 (2024), India's election commission announced it would hold national polls from April 19 (2024) to June 1 (2024). Some at ONGC believe the political climate in Tamil Nadu will become more E&P-friendly after the elections.
Others hope that Narendra Modi will indeed contest the polls from the Ramnad seat in Tamil Nadu, as well as from Varanasi, as some speculate. "If the PM contests from Tamil Nadu, that would be a blessing for ONGC because it would mean direct central government help," says a source.
But until March 17 (2024), the BJP had not declared its Tamil Nadu candidates list. Since May 7 (2021), Tamil Nadu has been ruled by the centre-left DMK under chief minister MK Stalin.