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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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Judgment delivered on: 22.12.2023

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O.M.P. (COMM) 424/2020 & IA No.3680/2020

ONGC PETRO ADDITIONS LIMITED

..... Petitioner

Versus

TECNIMONT S.P.A & ANR.

..... Respondents

Advocates who appeared in this case:

For the Petitioner

: Mr. Nakul Dewan, Sr. Adv. with Mr. K.R.

Sasiprabhu, Mr. Aditya Swarup, Mr. Vishnu

Sharma, Mr. Tushar Bhardwaj, Mr. Vinayak

M & Mr. M. Shishodia, Advs

For the Respondents

: Mr. Ritin Rai, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Rishi

Agrawala, Mr. Karan Luthra, Mr. S. Niranjan

& Mr. Akshay Vasishth, Advs.

CORAM

HON’BLE MR JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU

JUDGMENT

VIBHU BAKHRU, J

INTRODUCTION

1.

ONGC Petro Additions Ltd. (hereafter ‘OPaL’) has filed the

present petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation

Act, 1996 (hereafter ‘theA&C Act’) impugning an arbitral award

Digitally Signed

By:DUSHYANT

RAWAL

Signing Date:30.12.2023

Signature Not Verified

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originally dated 06.01.2020 but subsequently corrected and re-dated on

11.02.2020 (hereafter ‘the impugned award’). The impugned award

was delivered by two members (hereafter ‘the Majority’) of an arbitral

tribunal comprising of three members (hereafter ‘the Arbitral

Tribunal’) in an international commercial arbitration with New Delhi,

being the seat of the arbitration. One of the members of the Arbitral

Tribunal did not concur with the material findings of the Majority and

penned a separate opinion.

2.

The impugned award was rendered in the context of disputes that

had arisen between the parties in relation to two distinct, but similar

agreements dated 02.09.2011 (hereafter collectively referred to as ‘the

Contracts’).

3.

The Majority held that OPaL was liable for the delay in

performance of the Contracts resulting in the respondents incurring

additional expenses & costs. Accordingly, the Majority awarded an

amount of ₹50,179,493/-, €5,049,443 and $4,977,199 in favour of

respondent no.1 (hereafter ‘TCM’) and ₹777,833,550/- in favour of

respondent no.2 (hereafter ‘TCMPL’). TCM and TCMPL are hereafter

collectively referred to as ‘Tecnimont’). In addition, the Arbitral

Tribunal also held that the respondents (who were claimants before the

Arbitral Tribunal) were entitled to interest at the rate of 2% above the

current rate of interest as defined under Section 2(b) of the Interest Act,

1978 with effect from fourteen days after the date of the impugned

award. The counterclaims preferred by OPaL were rejected.

Digitally Signed

By:DUSHYANT

RAWAL

Signing Date:30.12.2023

Signature Not Verified

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FACTUAL CONTEXT

4.

TCM is a company incorporated under the laws of Italy and

TCMPL is a company incorporated in India. TCM & TCMPL are

ultimate subsidiaries of Maire Tecnimont S.P.A., Italy. The impugned

award notes that the said company is a part of a larger group of

companies, which are leading engineering and construction contractors

in oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors.

5.

OPaL was set up by a consortium of three Indian state-owned

companies – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Gas

Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Gujarat State Petroleum

Corporation Limited (GSPCL) – for the purpose of developing a

petrochemical complex (hereafter ‘the Complex’) in Dahej Special

Economic Zone at Dahej, District Bharuch, Gujarat under the

Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Regions policy of

Government of India (hereafter ‘the Dahej Project’). The Complex is

situated in the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment

Region/ Special Economic Zone (PCPIR/SEZ) at the port of Dahej and

consists of various interdependent units – including a Dual Feed

Cracker Unit (DFCU), which provides products as feedstock for other

downstream units, that is, the Polyethylene (PE) unit and Propylene

(PP