It has also challenged the oil ministry's decision to intervene in the dispute by setting up a committee, headed by Justice AP Shah.

ONGC was planning to start gas production here from April 2018. Oil production is slated to begin after that.

India has been pressing for access to its companies in Russia's lucrative hydrocarbons sector and the pacts finalised are likely to facilitate their significant presence in oil and gas exploration in the Eurasian country.

Currently, Mansarovar Energy Colombia, a joint venture formed by ONGC and Chinese oil firm Sinopec, is engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in Colombia.

With crude oil prices hovering below the $40 per barrel mark, it has come close to India’s biggest oil explorer’s average cost of production, implying that any further decline will push most of ONGC’s fields into operational losses.

U.S. crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 18 cents at $34.77 a barrel by 0104 GMT. The contract fell 1.6 percent to $34.95 a barrel on Thursday.

The consultant had said 11 billion cubic meter (bcm) of gas may have flown from ONGC’s Godavari PML and KG-D5 blocks to RIL’s KG-D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra coast.

The CAG said the firm lacked uniformity in preparation of annual rig requirement plan (RRP), delayed rig acquisitions and hiring, was inconsistent in deployment and had an inefficient repair and refurbishment policy.

Oil India has dipped 4% to Rs 371, Cairn India is down 3.5% at Rs 131, while ONGC has declined 3% at Rs 217 on the BSE. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.46% or 117 points at 25,412 at 11:50 AM.

It all started in July 2013 when a review of the firm’s eastern offshore oil and gas campaign by the just-appointed director (exploration), Narendra Kumar Verma, led to suspicion that ONGC’s Krishna Godavari basin block KG-DWN-98/2 and Godavari-PML are connected with adjoining KG-D6 block of RIL.