India Approves $8.8 Billion Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration Program

India has greenlit a significant investment of up to 840.84 billion rupees ($8.8 billion) to accelerate offshore oil and gas exploration. The National Offshore Exploration Scheme, running until the end of the 2030-31 financial year, is designed to bolster domestic energy supplies and decrease the nation's dependence on imports.

The program is projected to add more than 600 million tonnes of discoverable oil equivalent to India's reserves. It will encompass a range of activities, including seismic surveys, data processing and interpretation, and exploration drilling in deepwater and ultra-deepwater regions. Furthermore, it will support scientific drilling in frontier basins and the development of shared offshore production and evacuation infrastructure, alongside an integrated oil and gas manufacturing and services zone.

Government officials stated the initiative aims to attract investment across the entire exploration and production supply chain, foster long-term business opportunities, and strengthen India's indigenous technical expertise. This move follows a decade of opening offshore acreage and reforming legal frameworks, supported by an expanded National Data Repository for exploration data.

This strategic push comes as India strives to lessen its reliance on imported energy. Currently, domestic crude production meets only about 10% of the country's consumption, positioning India as the world's third-largest oil importer and second-largest buyer of LPG. The government has actively diversified its crude procurement, increasing supplier countries from 27 to 41.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously announced this offshore exploration mission in August of the previous year. In a separate but related development, the cabinet also approved a $530 million program for floating solar photovoltaic projects with energy storage, targeting 102 GW of capacity and aiming to prevent approximately 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.