CAG to audit oil ministry records

New Delhi : After a scathing attack on the performance of oil and gas companies for a five-year period, starting 2003, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will soon start the process of auditing the records of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas for 2008-09.

A senior official in CAG, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the audit agency was waiting for a status report from the ministry over the government’s action on the report that was tabled in Parliament on September 8. The official said on receiving the report from the ministry, CAG would begin a further audit of production-sharing contracts signed between the government and companies. “Once the ministry sends the status report, we will start the process of auditing the remaining production-sharing contracts as well," a senior official in CAG said.