Shell (SHEL) and Equinor (EQNR) can continue work at two project locations in the North Sea but will not be able to extract any oil and gas until the British government re-evaluates the projects' approvals, a Scottish court ruled on Thursday, according to multiple media reports.

The approvals were challenged by environmental groups Greenpeace and Uplift, which argued they failed to take into account the potential impact of downstream emissions, reports said Thursday.

Shell said it has already spent 800 million British pounds ($993.9 million) and added that the ruling "rightly allows work to progress on this nationally important energy project while new consents are sought."

Equinor did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' request for comment.

SHEL and EQNR shares were up 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively in recent premarket activity.