New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Oil India Limited (OIL) to withdraw its interlocutory application challenging the Centre's refusal to approve its Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) project for extracting hydrocarbons beneath Assam's Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, with liberty to file a fresh petition.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the order after senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for OIL, sought urgent hearing of the matter.

Dwivedi said the project was crucial to the country's energy requirements and involved drilling from outside the national park to reach hydrocarbon reserves located 3,500-4,000 metres underground. He argued that ERD was no...