Vedanta gets interim relief as Delhi HC orders status quo on offshore oil block

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, January 7, granted interim relief to Vedanta Ltd, staying the Centre’s direction that required the company to cease operations and hand over the CB-OS/2 offshore oil block to ONGC. The court has directed both sides to maintain the status quo until further orders.

The relief comes in Vedanta’s challenge to the government’s September 2025 decision rejecting the company’s request for extension of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the offshore block located off the Gujarat

coast.

A division bench of the High Court also rejected the Centre’s objection, questioning the maintainability of Vedanta’s plea, holding that the company’s arguments need to be considered.

The company had claimed that it was not given a hearing before rejection. It said the issues were never raised when it was granted interim extensions five times earlier.

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Vedanta was awarded the CB-OS/2 offshore block under a PSC in 1998, with the contract originally set to expire in 2023. In 2021, the company applied for an extension under a government policy.

While the extension request remained pending, Vedanta was granted five interim extensions, allowing it to continue petroleum operations.

In September 2025, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas rejected the extension request and directed Vedanta to stop operations, vacate the block and hand over control to ONGC.

Shares of Vedanta are trading at ₹622.50 apiece, which is 0.15% higher than the day's opening on the NSE.