New Delhi: In a rebuff to BP plc, an international tribunal has held that the British energy giant cannot claim any legal cost from the Indian government as it was never part of an arbitration its partner Reliance Industries filed in the gas migration row with ONGC. Last month, the three-member international arbitration tribunal by a majority vote held that Reliance could contractually produce and sell any gas that might have migrated from adjoining fields of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) into its area. It asked the Government of India to pay Reliance USD 8.3 million to cover for the legal cost but rejected USD 1.47 million claimed by BP and another USD 156,930.03 claimed by Canada's Niko Resources -- two minority partners in eastern offshore KG-D6 fields. "Not being a party to the arbitration should the costs incurred by each of them be included as those incurred by the Claimant (Reliance) and recoverable from the Respondent (Government of India)?