Supreme Court dismisses Centre's challenge, clears way for Vedanta to enforce $99 million Ravva oilfield arbitration awards
The Supreme Court has upheld a Delhi High Court order allowing Vedanta and Ravva Oil (Singapore) to enforce foreign arbitration awards worth about $99 million against the Centre, ending a dispute over the Krishna-Godavari basin oilfield that dates back to a 1994 contract.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the Centre's challenge to a Delhi High Court order that allowed Vedanta Ltd and Ravva Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd to enforce foreign arbitration awards worth about $99 million. The Centre had sought $64 million from Vedanta and $35 million from Ravva Oil in the long-running dispute.
The case arises from a 1994 production-sharing contract for the Ravva oilfield in the Krishna-Godavari basin off Andhra Pradesh. An arbitral award in 2004 was set aside by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2009, but that decision was reversed on appeal and upheld by Malaysia's Federal Court in 2011.
A tribunal issued a final ruling in 2016, which Malaysia's Federal Court upheld in February 2019. The Delhi High Court then rejected the Centre's objections to enforcement in India, and the Supreme Court has now declined to interfere.
The ruling is being seen as another signal that Indian courts will enforce foreign arbitration awards with limited room for review, a point closely watched by global investors in India's energy sector.
Source: The Hindu. Photo: Subhashish Panigrahi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
