The board of Petronet LNG (PLL), which met here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of petroleum secretary S Naryanan, decided that four oil PSUs - Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Gas Authority of India (Gail) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)- would pick among themselves 10 per cent equity earmarked for NTPC.

A resolution of this effect, moved by PLL managing director Suresh Mathur, was approved unanimously by the meeting attended by nominees of all the four oil PSUs, besides petroleum ministry joint secretary C Bhashal.

When contacted, official sources said that the decision was taken in view of NTPC's inability to join the company before it was able to sign power purchase agreements with the states for its proposed gas based projects at Anta, Auriya, Kawas and Gandhar at an investment of over Rs 10,000 crore.

However, they added that NTPC, which had sought permission till March, could be considered again for equity participation as and when it came up with suitable proposal. Incidentally, NTPC is a 26 per cent equity partner in the rival private sector LNG import project at Pipavav in Gujarat.`