The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has issued a demand for $2.81 billion to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its consortium partners – BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited and NIKO (NECO) Limited – over a long-standing dispute regarding gas migration from ONGC’s blocks to the KG-D6 block, RIL said on Tuesday.
The claim stems from a case dating back to 2018, when the Government of India (GOI) had raised allegations against the KG-D6 Consortium, which includes RIL, for allegedly causing gas to migrate from ONGC’s neighboring blocks.
The Ministry had initially sought compensation of around $1.55 billion in relation to the supposed migration. This legal dispute was further complicated by a series of judicial proceedings, with the case reaching the Delhi High Court.
In May 2023, a single judge bench of the Delhi High Court had dismissed the GOI’s appeal challenging an arbitral award in favor of RIL. However, following the government’s appeal to a Division Bench, the court reversed the earlier ruling in a judgment delivered on March 3, 2025.
As a result of this reversal, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has now raised a demand for $2.81 billion, citing the updated legal developments and the revised assessment of the gas migration issue.