NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries(RIL) has challenged the jurisdiction of a panel examining Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) allegations that it pumped out gas from the state-run firm's field, and has argued that the dispute should be resolved by arbitration.

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

Reliance Industries (RIL) have moved higher by 3% at Rs 1,034, its highest level since July 2015 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), in an otherwise subdued market.

The stock is 3% away from its 52-week high of Rs 1,068 touched on July 23, 2015 in intra-day trade. It outperformed the market by gaining 17% from its recent low of Rs 916 on December 9 as compared to 2.2% rise in Nifty 50 index.

The slide in crude oil prices might push back development of the 98/2 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin, the most ambitious programme of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), by at least two quarters.

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

Markets have turned range bound and are hovering near the flat line amid thin volumes.

By 11:35 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading lower by 6 points at 26,075 and Nifty50 was flat at 7,929.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani on Sunday announced the company’s re-entry into the telecom business by unveiling a fourth generation (4G) service for its employees.

Ambani didn’t disclose when commercial operations will begin.

Benchmark share indices were trading near their day's high in late morning deals after stabilising global crude prices led to buying interest in oil and gas shares.

At 11:35am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 261 points at 25,852 after hitting an intra-day high of 25,863 and the NIfty50 was up 76 points at 7,862 after touching an intra-day high of 7,865.

Reliance Industries (RIL) is drawing the attention of the street with the impending launch of its much awaited 4G service. With RIL having invested heavily in its telecom venture Reliance Jio, its success and return on investments will be crucial. The venture has drawn investor concern and analysts criticism of Reliance’s investments in the sector, based on long break-even and lower returns on heavy investments. Thus, while the launch and success will be watched for keenly, investor expectations are low, and success of the venture can boost Street sentiment.

The government has set up a judicial commission headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Ajit Prakash Shah to look into the findings of the international consultant DeGolyer & MacNaughton in the gas dispute between Reliance Industries (RIL) and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

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.

Markets have turned range bound in noon trades led by gains in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and HDFC. However, profit taking in select pharma and auto shares capped upside gains.

At 1:50 pm, the 30-share Sensex was up 212 points at 25,250 and the 50-share Nifty was up about 60 points at 7,671.

Reliance Industries (RIL), the country's largest private sector company, has moved Rs 10,000-15,000 crore in the past few days from duration schemes to liquid schemes of mutual funds. Duration schemes are medium-term mutual fund schemes that provide good returns in a falling interest rate regime. Liquid schemes, on the other hand, are almost cash equivalent.

"Reliance Industries, the biggest investor in the mutual fund industry, has been aggressively shifting money from medium-term debt funds to near-cash liquid schemes in the past few days," said the chief executive of a fund house.

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