The scheme will deploy interventions across offshore exploration, including large-scale seismic data acquisition and interpretation.
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The Cabinet on Friday approved Samudra Manthan, or the National Offshore Exploration Scheme, through which it aims to boost oil and gas production in deep and ultra-deep water with a funding boost of ₹84,084 crore, or roughly $8.81 billion.The central sector scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) offers government support of up to 50 per cent of eligible drilling costs or ₹675 crore per well for 60 deepwater exploratory wells.“Samudra Manthan is expected to catalyse reserve accretion of over 600 million tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MMTOE), substantially increase offshore exploration activity, promote higher domestic oil and gas production, etc.," the MoPNG noted.Joint EffortThe scheme will be led by state-run exploration and production majors — ONGC and Oil India (OIL). They will bring on board companies involved in seismic data collection, exploration, and drilling, such as Baker Hughes, BP, and others, sources said.Prashant Vashisht, Senior VP & Co Group Head at ICRA, noted that the scheme provides funds for offshore seismic data acquisition, especially in erstwhile No-Go zones, which is a key issue hampering commercial exploitation of oil and gas reserves in these areas due to a lack of good prospectivity data.“It also provides support for drilling deepwater and ultra-deepwater wells, where the domestic upstream sector has limited experience and technical expertise, and the exploitation of these resources remains highly capital-intensive and risky. It aims to add incremental annual production of 10-15 MMTOE, which would reduce dependence on imports of oil and gas, but only to the extent of 3-5 per cent,” he added.Gaurav Moda, Partner and Energy Sector Leader at EY Parthenon India, said: “This is a clear and concrete step forward and formal commitment by the Indian Government towards dramatically increasing our Energy Atmanirbharta. Agreed that it may take sizeable investment, years, high-end technology, and global partnerships, but it will be in India and for India.”The scheme will deploy a comprehensive set of interventions across the offshore exploration value chain, including large-scale acquisition, processing and interpretation of high-quality seismic data.It will also include accelerated deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploratory drilling, scientific drilling in frontier basins, development of common offshore production and evacuation infrastructure, and establishment of an integrated Oil & Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone.The scheme also includes dedicated provisions for digital programme management, capacity building, technology adoption, stakeholder engagement and international outreach, creating an integrated ecosystem to accelerate offshore exploration and production in the country.Published on July 31, 2026
