ONGC: RIL has deliberately taken our gas

ONGC has alleged that Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in a “well-planned and deliberate strategy” produced about $1.4 billion worth of its gas over past six years and demanded that the Mukesh Ambani firm pay full compensation with 18 per cent interest.

Reliance Industries had in 2001 and again in 2007 acquired seismic data to study hydrocarbon reservoir lying several hundred meters below the sea-bed not just in its Bay of Bengal KG-D6 block but also of neighbouring blocks of ONGC without the knowledge of the state-owned firm, it alleged.

The data acquired by RIL established that Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) gas fields in its KG-D6 block have a considerable extension into ONGC's adjoining blocks KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) and Godvari PML, the state-owned firm said in a written submission to the AP Shah Committee looking into the gas dispute between the two firms.“RIL concealed and did not reveal the data to ONGC,” the company alleged.

“RIL drilled its production wells at such locations (close to common boundary of the blocks) and with such angles so as to extract maximum gas from reservoirs falling under ONGC's blocks.”