KG Basin gas migration dispute: RIL informs SC its intention to write to Centre for conciliation

On May 19, the top court commenced final hearing on appeals of RIL and two other foreign firms challenging a Delhi High Court verdict that set aside an arbitral award in their favour in the Krishna-Godavari Basin gas migration dispute with the Centre

Updated – May 20, 2026 02:34 pm IST – New Delhi

The Hindu Bureau

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

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

“All the petitioners will be writing to the government to attempt a conciliation or mediation,” a counsel submitted in an oral mentioning before a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.

The counsel said the contract was an ongoing one and “we are still in a relationship”.

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The oral mentioning came even as appeals filed by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and others against a Delhi High Court verdict, that set aside an arbitral award which was in their favour in the gas migration dispute with the Centre, was listed for the second day’s hearing before the Supreme Court.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Union government, however maintained equanimity over the submission made by RIL in favour of conciliation of the dispute.

Mr. Venkataramani said the court should continue to hear the case, and meanwhile, if anything happened, the government would duly report back to the court about such development.

Chief Justice Kant said the court would consider stalling the hearing only if both sides agreed to it.

“You [parties in the dispute] can conclude the arguments. We will record that, meanwhile, mediation is on. If you come back to us with a successful mediation, wonderful! We will dispose of the case. If not, we will hear it on merits,” Chief Justice Kant said. The court went on to hear oral arguments in the case later in the day.

RIL, BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited and Niko (NECO) Limited have assailed the February 14, 2025 order of the High Court setting aside an order of a Single Judge Bench, which had upheld the arbitral award in favour of the RIL-led consortium for allegedly “migrating”of gas belonging to the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation from the KG basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

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

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for RIL, has refuted the Centre’s claim that RIL “siphoned” gas that had migrated from the neighbouring blocks of state-owned ONGC into RIL’s KG-D6 block. He said that the gas flow was a purely physical phenomenon driven by pressure differentials, comparing it to “osmosis”.

The senior lawyer has countered the “theft” allegation as technically and legally flawed.

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

“It is the single largest success story in domestic gas production, contributing 30% of India’s output. Yet, I stand accused of theft,” Mr. Singhvi said.

Published – May 20, 2026 12:09 pm IST

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