LONDON (Alliance News) - India-focused Hardy Oil & Gas PLC said that the District Court of the District of Columbia of the US rejected subsidiary Hardy Exploration & Production (India) Inc's application for the CY-OS/2 arbitration award.
In 1997, Hardy entered a contract with the government of India that would allow it to search for an extract hydrocarbons from an area on India's southeastern coast. The contract stated that if crude oil was found, it would have two years to assess if it was economically viable, and five years if it was natural gas.
Hardy claimed that the hydrocarbon reserve found in 2006 was natural gas, which India disagreed with, and after two years the company relinquished its right over the block.
Hardy initiated arbitration proceedings over the contract, to which a tribunal found it in the company's favour and ordered India to allow Hardy back on the block for another three years to continue assessing if the natural gas was available.
However, the Indian government appealed the award to the Delhi High Court, in response to which Hardy filed a separate suit to enforce the award, the cases of which remain pending.
Three years after the award was won, Hardy still was not admitted to the block, and filed a petition for confirmation of its award in the Columbia District Court under the Federal Arbitration Act, which India opposed, claiming the award enforcement would violate US public policy.
Shares in Hardy Oil & Gas were untraded on Friday, last quoted at 12.98 pence.