On July 31, the Union Cabinet approved the National Offshore Exploration Scheme (Samudra Manthan), a central sector scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with an outlay of ₹84,084 crore over the next five years. The scheme aims to increase India’s petroleum production by unlocking its “vast offshore hydrocarbon potential”. Broad components of the scheme are seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation, accelerating offshore exploration, creating common offshore infrastructure and deploying modern technology, and developing and strengthening oil and gas manufacturing and services zones in the country.HT fileThese efforts, the government believes, will increase India’s hydrocarbon resource base from 1.6 billion to 2.2 billion tonnes of Oil Equivalent (TOE), increase output to a peak potential of 20 million metric tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MMTOE), lower the import bill by up to ₹1 lakh crore each year, and promote investment, employment and manufacturing.While petroleum is an important component of India’s energy requirements and needs import-substitution measures, safeguarding India’s energy security requires going beyond petroleum. This two-part series will explain this argument in detail. The first part will discuss the trade aspect of India’s petroleum economy, while the second will address the larger energy-security picture.