Amid legal battle, ONGC takes over physical control of PMT from RIL & Shell

With cloud over the $4.5-billion claim by the government towards profit and royalty from the Panna, Mukta and Tapti (PMT) fields, state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has physically taken over the PMT fields from Reliance Industries (RIL) and Shell.

The government had approached the Delhi High Court seeking to block RIL’s stake sale plans.

This includes the $15-billion deal with Saudi Aramco, citing non-payment of an international arbitral award to the tune of $4.5 billion on PMT. 

The Mukesh Ambani-led company had refuted the claims. According to sources, the final phase of arbitration is scheduled in mid 2020 and the government