PMT gas fields: Government moves high court against RIL, Shell firm over $5 billion royalties, taxes

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Delhi High Court to recover $5 billion from Reliance Industries (RIL) and Shell-owned BG Exploration & Production India in a dispute over cost recovery provisions and reimbursement of royalties and taxes related to Panna-Mukta & Tapti (PMT) gas fields. A division bench led by Justice Suresh Kait sought a response from RIL and BG Exploration on the government's appeal alleging that the two companies have been «withholding unlawfully significant amounts of public money (exceeding approximately $5 billion) which have already become due and payable» in terms of 2016 final partial award, one in a series of such awards passed by an arbitral tribunal.

The matter has been posted for further hearing on September 18. Justice C Hari Shankar of the HC had on June 2 rejected oil ministry's plea for enforcement of a 2016 FPA, holding it to be «premature & not maintainable» and «not an executable arbitral award».

The government stated that the single-judge bench had «erroneously» dismissed the enforcement petition, ignoring that the 2016 FPA was «unequivocally and unambiguously» a final and conclusive award in relation to the obligations and rights of both the parties. "...the executable amount is to be computed on the basis of the audited accounts of RIL and BG only, for which the necessary formulae are provided in the production sharing contract," it said.