The Supreme Court has declined to pause proceedings in the high-stakes Krishna Godavari (KG) basin gas migration dispute between the Centre and a Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)-led consortium.
The consortium informed the court that it intends to approach the Union government seeking conciliation or mediation of the matter.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that the hearing would continue unless both sides jointly informed the court that a resolution had been reached.
The Centre had accused the consortium of having “virtually committed a theft” of natural gas belonging to state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) from adjoining offshore fields in the KG basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast.
The dispute centres on allegations that natural gas from ONGC’s offshore blocks migrated into the adjoining KG-D6 block operated by the RIL-led consortium and was subsequently extracted between 2009 and 2013.
The consortium, however, strongly denied the allegation, contending that migration of hydrocarbons across underground reservoirs was a natural geological phenomenon incapable of being prevented by artificial means.
The litigation arises out of a production sharing contract executed in 2000 between the Centre and the RIL-led consortium for exploration and extraction of natural gas in the KG basin.
