The ten month-old standoff between British Gas and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation over the operatorship of Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields is heading for a resolution with the British firm agreeing to involve Indian partners in financial decisions.

"They are coming closer (to a resolution). BG Group executives last month conveyed that a solution was in sight. ONGC too has conveyed that differences have narrowed down," petroleum secretary B K Chaturvedi said in New Delhi.

BG Group last month proposed involving ONGC and Reliance (the third partners in the field) in award of multi-million dollar contracts, which the ONGC chairman and managing director Subir Raha said was "a welcome change."

"BG's approach till now has been to become de-facto sole operator of the field, which obviously was not acceptable to us. There is a shift in their stand which is encouraging," he said.

ONGC, which had earlier said it would not settle for anything less than the joint operatorship, is looking at the fresh offer as a means to resolve the issue.

BG, which took over interim operatorship of the fields after buying Enron's 30 per cent stake, has also promised transparency and greater participation of Indian partners in decision making.

Declining to give details of BG's proposal, Raha said: "We (ONGC, BG and Reliance) had in February last reached an understanding that the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields will be operated through integrated joint operatorship with substantive participation of partners."