Punj Lloyd’s claim against ONGC dismissed

Mumbai: An arbitration tribunal rejected a Rs 1,320 crores claim filed by the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Punj Lloyd against Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and also the latter’s counterclaim against Punj Lloyd for Rs 1,153 crore for loss of production due to delay.

Punj Lloyd had approached the arbitration tribunal after ONGC refused to pay the company the agreed amount due to alleged delay in the execution of the project. The company had claimed that ONGC has illegally, unreasonably and arbitrarily refused to pay all amounts or compensate the Punj Lloyd for changes directed by the respondent to the ‘Concept Design’ initially proposed by the ONGC in its bid documents.

ONGC, on its part, argued that as per the contract, Punj Lloyd was given 16 months to complete the contract but instead it took 41 months.

ONGC also argued that in a bid document, four new well platforms were to be designed for carrying the weight of drilling rig of 800 tonnes.