July 25, 2026: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to grant any interim relief to Vedanta Limited against the takeover of an offshore oil and gas block off the Gujarat coast by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).
 
A Division Bench comprising Justices Dinesh Mehta and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta declined Vedanta's appeal to continue the status quo that had earlier protected its operations until a single judge dismissed its petition on Wednesday.
 
The court, however, told Vedanta that it would restore possession of the block to the company if it succeeded in convincing the Bench next week.
 
"If needed, we'll put the clock back. We'll restore your position, but after hearing you," the court said.
 
ONGC has now taken control of the assets and operations of the offshore oil and gas block (CB/OS-2) after the Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the Union government's decision refusing to extend Vedanta's production-sharing contract (PSC) for it.
 
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav dismissed Vedanta's challenge to the order of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas dated September 19 last year.
 
The ministry had rejected the company's request for a 10-year extension of the PSC and directed ONGC to immediately take over the offshore block, located near Suvali, Gujarat.
 
The court ruled that Vedanta was not entitled to an extension after it unilaterally adjusted around ₹880 million from the government's share of profit petroleum to offset its liabilities arising from the special additional excise duty (SAED).
 
"Ex facie the said unilateral deduction was not bona fide. The petitioner is handling public resources of the people of India. The scheme of the PSC is such as would require the private company to give the share of the Government," the court said.
 
The block comprises the Lakshmi and Gauri gas fields. It was awarded in 1998 to a consortium of Cairn Energy, Tata Petrodyne and ONGC. Vedanta later became the operator and currently holds a 40 per cent participating interest, while ONGC owns 50 per cent and Invenire Petrodyne (formerly Tata Petrodyne) the remaining 10 per cent.
 
The PSC expired on June 29, 2023.
 
Vedanta and the other consortium members had sought a fresh term till June 2033 by filing an application in June 2021. While the request remained pending, the Centre granted five interim working permits to allow petroleum operations to continue.

(Source: Business Standard)