KG Basin gas migration dispute: RIL informs SC of intention to write to Center for conciliation

In July 2018, an international arbitration tribunal rejected the Indian government’s $1.55 billion claim against RIL and its partners for allegedly siphoning gas from fields it had no right to exploit. Representative file image: www.ril.com

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and two other foreign firms on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) informed the Supreme Court that they intend to write to the Union government to try for reconciliation in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) gas migration dispute.

“All the petitioners will write to the government to try for conciliation or mediation,” the counsel said in an oral submission before a bench of Supreme Court Justices Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.

The attorney said the contract is ongoing and “we’re still in a relationship.”

The oral mention came even as an appeal filed by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and others against a Delhi High Court verdict quashing an arbitration award in their favor in a gas migration dispute with the Center was listed for hearing in the Supreme Court the next day.

However, Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Union government, maintained composure on RIL’s submission in favor of settling the dispute.

Mr. Venkataramani said the court should continue hearing the case and if anything happened in the meantime, the government would properly inform the court about such developments.

Chief Justice Kant said the court would consider adjourning the hearing only if both parties agreed.

“You (disputing parties) can close arguments. We will note that mediation is in progress in the meantime. If you come back to us with a successful mediation, great! We will settle the case. If not, we will hear it on its merits,” Chief Justice Kant said. The court heard oral arguments in the case later in the day.

RIL, BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited and Niko (NECO) Limited challenged the Supreme Court’s February 14, 2025 order setting aside the order of the Single Judge Bench which upheld the arbitral award in favor of the RIL-led consortium for the alleged “migration” of gas belonging to the Gashrade Basin State from the Andhrag Gulf coast.

In July 2018, an international arbitration tribunal rejected the government’s $1.55 billion claim against RIL and its partners for allegedly “sucking” gas from fields they had no right to exploit.

Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for RIL, refuted the Centre’s claim that RIL had “siphoned” gas that had migrated from neighboring state-owned ONGC blocks to RIL’s KG-D6 block. He said gas flow was a purely physical phenomenon driven by pressure differentials and likened it to “osmosis”.

A senior lawyer opposed the charge of “theft” as technically and legally flawed.

He said RIL had spent $7.4 billion on the ultra-deep water project, “the frontier of subsea engineering”, where other operators, including ONGC, had struggled to produce for years.

“It is the single biggest success in domestic gas production, which contributes 30% of India’s production. Yet I am accused of theft,” Mr Singhvi said.

Published – 20 May 2026 12:09 PM IST