On Wednesday, January 7, the Delhi High Court provided interim relief to Vedanta Ltd by suspending the Centre’s order that mandated the company to halt operations and transfer the CB-OS/2 offshore oil block to ONGC. The court instructed both parties to maintain the current situation until further notice.
This relief follows Vedanta’s challenge against the government’s September 2025 decision to deny the company’s request for an extension of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the offshore block situated off the coast of Gujarat.
A division bench of the High Court dismissed the Centre’s objection regarding the maintainability of Vedanta’s petition, asserting that the company’s arguments deserve consideration.
Vedanta argued that it was not afforded an opportunity to be heard before the rejection. It pointed out that these concerns were never raised when it was granted interim extensions on five separate occasions prior.
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A PSC was awarded to Vedanta for the CB-OS/2 offshore block in 1998, with the contract initially set to end in 2023. The company sought an extension in 2021 under a governmental policy.
While the extension request was still pending, Vedanta received five interim extensions that permitted it to continue petroleum operations.
In September 2025, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas rejected the extension request and instructed Vedanta to cease operations, vacate the block, and relinquish control to ONGC.
Shares of Vedanta are currently trading at ₹622.50 each, reflecting a 0.15% increase from the day’s opening on the NSE.
