Sat Feb 15 04:53:10 UTC 2025: **Delhi High Court Overturns Arbitral Award Favoring Reliance Industries in Gas Dispute**
NEW DELHI, February 15, 2025 – In a significant legal setback for Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the Delhi High Court has overturned a 2018 international arbitral award that favored the company and its partners in a gas dispute with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The court cited “patent illegality” in the award.
The dispute, which has spanned several years, centers on allegations that gas migrated from ONGC’s fields in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin to those operated by RIL. ONGC claimed that RIL unjustly profited by producing and selling this migrated gas.
A 2018 international arbitration tribunal had rejected the Indian government’s claim of USD 1.55 billion against RIL and its partners. However, the Delhi High Court, acting on a government appeal, reversed this decision on Friday. The court’s 79-page judgment declared RIL’s actions in extracting the gas to be in violation of the New Exploration License Policy (NELP) and fundamental Indian laws.
The court ruled that RIL’s actions led to significant enrichment at the expense of the public exchequer, highlighting the importance of protecting India’s natural resources. The judges emphasized that private entities cannot exploit public resources for private gain while disregarding the terms of their Production Sharing Contract (PSC). This ruling overturns a previous single-judge high court decision from May 9, 2023, that had upheld the arbitral award in favor of Reliance Industries.
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