New Delhi: The oil ministry on Friday issued a notice of $ 1.55 billion to Reliance Industries and its partners BP and Niko for “unfairly enriching” by producing natural gas which flew from the adjoining oil fields of ONGC in KG basin. RIL said a complete lack of data makes it impossible to estimate the quantity of hydrocarbons available in the block.”
RIL alleged that liability of the contractor has not been established by any process known to law and the quantification of the purported claim is without any basis and arbitrary. “RIL proposes to invoke the dispute resolution mechanism in the PSC and issue a notice of arbitration to the government. RIL remains convinced of being able to fully justify and vindicate its position that the government’s claim is not sustainable,” said the company.
In August, a government appointed Justice (Retd) A.P. Shah committee in its report had agreed with the allegations that gas had migrated from two KG basin oil fields of ONGC to adjoining KG-D6 block of Reliance Industries.
