Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is taking control of the oil and gas producing CB-OS/2 Cambay basin block after the government turned down a request for extension of the production sharing contract (PSC) filed by Vedanta, operator of the block.
Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on September 19 informed the “contractor parties (Vedanta, ONGC and Tata Petrodyne) of CB-OS/2 PSC Block that [the] application for extension of PSC filed by contractor has not been accepted. Further, in a separate communication, ONGC has been directed to take control of all data, assets, operations and responsibilities associated with the block in the capacity of government nominee. Accordingly, ONGC is taking over the control of the block,” the State-owned company informed the stock exchanges on Monday.
The directions given to ONGC to continue petroleum operations is a “purely interim measure taken by the government of India to maintain continuity of petroleum operations in public interest and safeguard petroleum reserve until the block is awarded to other party,” the company said.
An offshore block in the west coast, CB-OS/2 block consisting of Lakshmi and Gauri fields is currently producing 3,400 barrels of oil per day and 340000 SCMD of gas. The block was awarded to Cairn Energy India in pre new exploration licensing policy (NELP) PSC in 1998. Subsequent to commercial discovery of oil and gas, PML was granted in 2002. Cairn Energy in which the Vedanta Group acquired a majority stake in 2011 was subsequently merged with the Group.
Vedanta, through Cairn Energy, had a 40 stake in the block, while ONGC holds 50% interest in the asset, with the remaining 10% with Tata Petrodyne, a company that has been acquired by Invenire Energy.
Published – September 22, 2025 10:40 pm IST
