NEW DELHI: State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to invest around ₹1 lakh crore and drill 87 wells by FY31 as part of its deep-water exploration programme to tap India’s offshore oil and gas reserves, chairman Arun Kumar Singh said.
The company plans to gradually increase drilling activity, from four deep-water wells in FY26 to eight in FY27, 10 in FY28, 20 in FY29 and 22 in FY30. It plans to drill the remaining 23 wells in FY31, taking the total to 87 wells.
Singh said deep water was a major area of opportunity for India and ONGC was increasing its focus on offshore exploration to find new oil and gas reserves.
“We will get some incentive from the government under the ₹84,000-crore scheme approved by the Cabinet last month. But the company will invest around ₹20,000 crore of its own in Samudra Manthan,” Singh said.
“This is a huge area for India,” Singh said, highlighting the potential of deep-water resources and pointing to Brazil’s success in producing oil and gas from offshore fields.
Deep-water exploration is expensive and requires large investments, Singh said. The company is therefore increasing drilling activity to collect more geological data and get a clearer picture of India’s offshore oil and gas resources.
“We should be able to get very good data for three-four years and drill a good number of wells to reach a conclusion about how much we have and how much we don’t have,” he said.
Singh said technology was no longer a major challenge for deep-water exploration. ONGC has already started drilling activities and plans to increase its drilling capacity.
The company is also looking to work with international firms to strengthen its expertise. Singh said ONGC had signed an agreement with Shell and was open to partnerships for technical expertise, commercial support or both.
However, the success of deep-water projects will depend on the size of oil and gas discoveries and whether they are commercially viable, Singh said.
The government has approved the ₹84,000-crore Samudra Manthan scheme to accelerate deep-sea exploration and increase domestic oil and gas production. According to the Petroleum Ministry, the scheme is expected to add more than 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) to India’s hydrocarbon reserves.
The scheme is projected to increase annual domestic oil and gas production by 10-15 MTOE, with the potential to reach 20 MTOE at peak production.
