Union petroleum minister Ram Naik had announced in Mumbai on Thursday that the ministry of petroleum was in talks with the finance ministry to consider cut in crude import duty.

Ponnuswamy did not elaborate on this issue but said decisions would be taken by December, and he stood by whatever was told by the senior minister.The minister said that there was evidence to suggest that the western oil companies were using proprietory technology as leverage to open inaccessible areas.

``We need to access this technology in a manner so as to safeguard our national interests. Strategic alliances will have to be explored as we do not have the luxury of adequate time to develop home-grown solutions.''Ponnuswamy exhorted ONGC to develop technology which is economically viable, safe, national and environment-friendly. He also suggested that ONGC must invest in developing technology for conserving consumption of petro-products.``We can also invest in developing alternative sources of energy which have not yet reached industry status such as wind/solar and tidal energy,'' he added.

The three-day technology meet is to ``brainstorm on technology requirements of the upstream petroleum industry in the new millennium'' as knowledge capital is key to the success of the technology-intensive oil industry .