RIL, ONGC gas dispute: Govt extended the tenure of Shah panel by three months

New Delhi: Government has extended by three months the tenure of A P Shah Committee looking into the dispute over natural gas migrating from state-owned ONGC’s idle blocks in KG basin to neighbouring fields of Reliance Industries. The committee has been asked to submit its report on “acts of omission and commission” by 31 July, as well as compensation to ONGC, an oil ministry official said. The extension was necessary as RIL and its partner Niko Resources of Canada joined the inquiry committee only on 19 February and have submitted voluminous data which needs to be studied, he said. “They (the committee) sought an extension,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_2690318” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The ministry had constituted the one-man panel under Justice (Retd) A P Shah after US-based consultant D&M, in its final report, stated that as much as 11.122 billion cubic meters of natural gas, worth over Rs 11,000 crore, had migrated from idling Krishna Godavari fields of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to adjoining KG-D6 block of RIL. The panel initially sought written comments on the D&M report and the issue of connectivity of reservoir from all parties to the case. While ONGC and upstream regulator DGH responded, RIL and its partner Niko questioned the very constitution of the panel and decided not to participate in its proceedings. However, their 30 per cent partner BP plc of UK agreed to participate in the proceedings. RIL and Niko later had a change of heart and agreed to participate in the inquiry. The official said since RIL and Niko submitted their response together with voluminous data late, the Shah Committee wanted more time to study it. The panel has been asked to look into legal, financial and contractual provisions and submit a report. It has also been asked to report any “acts of omission and commission” on part of all the stakeholders including RIL, ONGC, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and the government, according to the terms and reference of the panel. It has been asked to “quantify the unfair enrichment, if any, to the contractors of the adjacent block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) and measures to prevent future unfair enrichment to these contractors on account of gas migration.” It has also been asked to “recommend action to be taken to make good the loss to ONGC/government on account of such unfair enrichment to the contractors.” The official said the government will decide on future course of action based on the recommendations of the Committee. PTI