Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed the Centre to give Cairn India a list of further particulars it needs to take a decision on the company's request for extending till 2030 the production sharing contract (PSC) that it and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have with the government.
The court also directed the government to seek from Cairn details that ONGC requires for consenting to commercial terms of the project which is being run as a joint venture by the two companies.
If there is a consensus between the two, then the documents would be forwarded to the government which will take a decision in three months on whether to extend the PSC which is set to expire in May 2020, the court said.
In the event of a difference of opinion, the court directed that the matter be listed before it on April 5, 2016.
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The court was of the opinion that by having a fixed time schedule for the entire exercise, further production might not suffer.
Cairn said that as per terms of the PSC, if commercial production starts, then the contract has to be extended for a term which has to be mutually agreed on by both the joint venture parties.
This claim was disputed by the government as well as ONGC.
The government said that prior to taking any decision it needs various particulars, including envisaged plan of action, estimated reserves, how much can be recovered and what would be the government's share, amongst others.
The government also said that it needs to see that both Cairn and ONGC are "on the same page" with regard to the proposal for extension and the time period.
It said it is committed to bringing in more investment, however, it needs a confirmation from the government that the PSC would be extended.
In its plea, Cairn has said that estimated recoverable assets in the block are approx 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 466 million barrels are expected to be recovered beyond current PSC period until 2030.