Photo Courtesy: nenow
Guwahati: The Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Assam government to respond to Oil India Limited regarding a rejected drilling project. The company wants to use Extended Reach Drilling to tap hydrocarbon deposits beneath Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. Oil India needs 0.069 hectares of forest land in the Tinsukia district to make this happen.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told the bench, which includes Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, that the project is urgent. He claims the area holds three percent of India's total hydrocarbon reserves. The court will hear the matter again after November 17.
Oil India insists this process is not mining. They plan to keep all surface infrastructure outside the park, reaching depths of 3,500 to 4,000 metres underground. As Dwivedi argued in a previous hearing, "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."
The company challenges the August 2, 2024, environment ministry order and the July 4, 2024, Forest Advisory Committee minutes. Officials blocked the project by citing an April 26, 2023, Supreme Court order that forbids mining within national parks and their one-kilometre buffers. Oil India argues authorities are misapplying that ban. They cite 2017 Supreme Court orders that previously allowed similar extraction methods under strict environmental safeguards. The project already holds an environmental clearance from May 2020 for seven drilling locations. Now, the company demands approval under Section 2(1)(ii) of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
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