8 hrs ago
Supreme Court Allows Oil India Fresh Plea On Drilling
Oil India wants to reach oil and gas below a national park in Assam.
It would drill from equipment placed outside the park.
The company says the drilling would happen thousands of metres underground and is not the same as mining inside the park.
Government authorities rejected permission to use a small piece of forest land for the project.
Oil India says an earlier Supreme Court decision allowed this kind of drilling with safeguards.
It also says a later court order against mining near protected areas was applied incorrectly to its proposal.
The company asked the Supreme Court to review the rejection.
The court allowed it to submit a new petition, but it has not yet decided whether drilling can proceed.
The Supreme Court allowed Oil India to withdraw its existing application and file a fresh petition challenging rejection of its drilling proposal.
The proposal involves Extended Reach Drilling beneath Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park from infrastructure located outside the park.
Oil India says the project is drilling, not conventional mining, and would reach hydrocarbon deposits about 3,500 to 4,000 metres underground.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change rejected approval to divert 0.069 hectares of forest land for the project.
Oil India says the project could meet nearly three per cent of India’s oil requirement and relies on earlier court permissions for similar subsurface extraction.
- Who
- Oil India Limited and the Supreme Court of India; the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and its Forest Advisory Committee are involved in the approval dispute.
- What
- The court permitted Oil India to withdraw an interlocutory application and file a fresh petition challenging rejection of approval for Extended Reach Drilling beneath Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
- Where
- The proposed drilling concerns hydrocarbon deposits beneath Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in Tinsukia district, Assam, with drilling infrastructure outside the park.
- When
- The order was reported on September 2, 2026; the court hearing took place on a Wednesday.
- Why
- Oil India says the project is important for national energy needs and that authorities wrongly treated Extended Reach Drilling as mining prohibited by a 2023 Supreme Court order.
Oil India’s Position
Government And Conservation Concerns
Whether the project is mining
Oil India’s Position
Oil India says Extended Reach Drilling is not conventional mining because drilling pads remain outside the park and the company accesses reservoirs several kilometres below the surface.
Government And Conservation Concerns
Authorities rejected the proposal after applying the Supreme Court’s 2023 prohibition on mining within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within one kilometre of their boundaries.
Environmental and wildlife safeguards
Oil India’s Position
Oil India says earlier Supreme Court orders and the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife supported subsurface extraction subject to environmental and wildlife safeguards.
Government And Conservation Concerns
The Forest Advisory Committee and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change did not approve the requested diversion of forest land, leaving the proposal without the approval sought by Oil India.
Importance of the project
Oil India’s Position
Oil India describes the proposal as urgent and important to India’s energy requirements, saying it could account for nearly three per cent of the country’s oil requirement.
Government And Conservation Concerns
The reported government decision reflects the application of restrictions protecting national parks, although the article does not provide a separate public statement explaining the government’s position beyond its refusal.
Key facts
- Project technology
- Extended Reach Drilling from locations outside the protected area
- Target depth
- Approximately 3,500 to 4,000 metres beneath the national park
- Forest area requested
- 0.069 hectares
- Location
- Baghjan PML in Tinsukia Wildlife Division, Assam
- Government action challenged
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s August 2, 2024 refusal and the Forest Advisory Committee’s July 4, 2024 meeting minutes
- Earlier clearance
- Environmental clearance was granted in May 2020 for extension drilling and hydrocarbon testing at seven locations
- Oil contribution claimed
- Oil India says the project concerns nearly three per cent of India’s oil requirement
Quotes
Chief Justice Surya Kant
Chief Justice of India and member of the Supreme Court bench
“This is extremely urgent because the area is on the fringes of a national park. All permissions have been granted, but the government considers itself bound by a 2023 order of this court banning mining. This is not mining. The pipeline is being laid outside the park. It goes 4,000 metres underground and then proceeds horizontally.”
thehindubusinessline.com
“We wanted to close that entire matter. If there is a fresh cause, file a fresh petition and we will entertain it. The registry cannot list the interlocutory application because there is an order to that effect.”
thehindubusinessline.com
Sources
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