India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (P. ONG) on Wednesday confirmed reports its board has turned down British Gas India Pvt. Ltd.'s proposal to operate the Panna-Mukta and Tapti offshore oil and natural gas fields. "The reports are correct. ONGC has rejected it. The ONGC board noted the best offer made by British Gas is not sufficient for ONGC to accept BG as operator in place of Enron," said ONGC spokesman E. Mohan Reddy. British Gas India is a wholly owned unit of BG Group PLC (BRG). Enron Corp. (ENE) currently operates the fields, which are located off India's western coast. An ONGC official told Dow Jones Newswires BG made a one-time offer of $7.5 million in order to get ONGC to back its claims to operate the fields. BG Group in October announced a conditional acquisition of Enron's stake in the Tapti and Panna-Mukta fields, subject to getting the operatorship. The acquisition, worth $388 million, was for the entire offshore interests held by Enron's unit, Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd. The decision may put an end to BG's bid to buy out Enron's 30% stake in the fields. ONGC holds a 40% stake of the fields, while Reliance Industries Ltd. (P.REL) owns the remaining 30%. No Reliance or British Gas official was immediately available for comment. ONGC's shares are trading at 144.20 rupees ($1=INR47.97), down 1.6% from Tuesday's INR146.50. Bureau Report