Bombay High Court sets aside arbitration award of $113 mn to HPCL

In 2017, HPCL was awarded the amount after an arbitration board found that Malaysia's M3nergy had delayed the finalising of a consortium agreement

Bombay High Court has set aside an arbitration award of more than Rs 800 crore ($113.19 million) owed to Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd by Malaysia's M3nergy, according to a court document reviewed by Reuters.

In 2017, HPCL was awarded the amount after an arbitration board found that M3nergy had delayed the finalising of a consortium agreement which led to the termination of an exploration contract with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp, the Economic Times newspaper reported at the time.

However, the Bombay High Court ruled on Jan. 10 to set aside the award saying the tribunal which ruled in favour of HPCL had no jurisdiction to do so, according to court documents uploaded to the court's public information system on Feb. 11 and reviewed by Reuters.

Rishab Gupta, a partner at the Indian law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas that represents M3nergy, confirmed on Wednesday the Jan. 10 ruling was for the original Rs 800 crore amount given in 2017.

A company spokesman for HPCL was not immediately available to make a comment when contacted by Reuters.
($1 = 70.6800 rupees)