New Delhi, March 16 – The government has filed a claim of $2.81 billion against Reliance Industries Limited and the UK oil giant BP for allegedly siphoning gas from ONGC's fields in India's eastern offshore KG basin, according to information provided to Parliament on Monday.
"The Government has filed a claim of $2.81 billion against Reliance Industries Limited and BP. The matter is currently being heard by the Supreme Court of India," said Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi, in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The minister's response was in reply to a question raised by Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash, who asked: "Is it a fact that the Government has claimed more than $2.00 billion from private companies for alleged gas theft from ONGC's blocks off the eastern coast?"
The MP also requested "complete details, including the names of the private companies involved and the latest status of payments received from these companies."
As of March, the Indian government has demanded approximately $2.81 billion (around Rs 25,983 crore) from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its partner BP, following a February 2025 ruling by the Delhi High Court, which overturned a 2018 arbitration award that initially cleared RIL of liability for alleged gas migration from ONGC fields in the KG basin.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has alleged that between 2004 and 2013-14, RIL's KG-D6 block extracted gas from adjacent ONGC blocks, resulting in an "unjust enrichment" of over $1.55 billion (plus interest).
A division bench of the Delhi High Court on February 14, 2025, ruled in favour of the government, overturning a previous single-judge ruling that favoured RIL, deeming the demand "unsustainable."
Reliance maintains that the gas was "naturally migrating" (moving across boundaries) and that they are not liable for extracting it. The company has challenged the Delhi HC judgment in the Supreme Court.