K-G Basin row: Slapping $1.55-bn notice was the easy part

RIL has denied knowingly producing any gas from the ONGC block

There has been much comment over the $1.55 billion demand made by the petroleum ministry on Reliance Industries (RIL) and its partners, BP and Niko Resources, for alleged unfair enrichment through gas migration from an adjoining Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) block in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.

The reports of large amounts of gas seeping into RIL’s block for over seven years led to the matter reaching the doors of the high court here. It constituted a one-person committee of A P Shah, who'd retired after being chief justice here, to investigate. His report, delivered on August 28, 2016,