Introduction

1. O.M.P. No.192 of 2012 under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Act’) has been filed by Union of India (‘UOI’) through the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (‘MoPNG’) challenging the majority Award dated 23rd December 2009 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal in the disputes between MoPNG, Respondent No.1 Niko Resources Ltd. (‘Niko’), Canada and Respondent No.2 Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited (‘GSPC’) arising out of a Production Sharing Contract (‘PSC’) dated 23rd September 1994 entered into between the President of India (referred to as ‘Government’ in the PSC) on the one hand and GSPC and Niko on the other hand for the exploration, development and marketing of petroleum resources from the Hazira Field in Gujarat, identified in the PSC as the Contract Area.

2. O.M.P. No.944 of 2011 has been filed by Niko under Section 9 of the Act praying for a direction to permit Niko to deposit in this Court MoPNG’s share of unpaid profit petroleum or deposit it in an escrow account during the pendency of O.M.P. No.192 of 2010.

3. The dispute between the parties concerns the cost of construction of a 14 km long 36” diameter pipeline f