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Deep-Sea Oil Push Gains Momentum, Hardeep Puri Hints At India's ‘Guyana Moment' In Andamans
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India has a sedimentary basin spread across 3.5 million square kilometres, but historically, only around 8 per cent of it has been explored.
India is intensifying efforts to boost its domestic fossil fuel output, with a major focus now on deep-sea exploration in the Andaman region.
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday highlighted a series of government initiatives to enhance oil and gas exploration. He expressed optimism about ongoing activity in the Andaman basin, suggesting it could be India's 'Guyana moment."
India has a sedimentary basin spread across 3.5 million square kilometres, but historically, only around 8 per cent of it has been explored. Much of the country's offshore potential remains untapped.
'It is our government that made the decision to significantly expand exploration," Puri said. 'There were parts of the sedimentary basin which were no-go areas. So one of the decisions which we took was that 1 million square kilometres of that sedimentary basin, which was no-go area, has suddenly been made available for E&P," he added.
According to Puri, under the nine rounds of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), about 38% of the bids targeted this newly opened 1 million sq km area. He expects that in the upcoming round, over 75 per cent of the bids will focus on that zone.
'We've also issued some of the largest bids on offer anywhere — something like 2.5 lakh square kilometres of area has been offered out on bidding," he stated.
The Minister estimated that India's sedimentary basins hold a potential of 42 billion tonnes of oil and gas equivalent. However, he pointed out that offshore drilling remains expensive, which has slowed progress.
'An onshore well costs something like USD 4 million on an average… And an offshore well costs about USD 100 million," Puri said, emphasizing the financial scale of such ventures.
He noted that ONGC, India's leading exploration and production company, has drilled the highest number of wells in nearly 40 years this year.
Drawing a parallel with Guyana's massive oil discovery after 46 failed attempts, Puri remarked, 'They (Guyana) dug 46 wells and they didn't find any oil. It's when they dug the 47th one, they found oil. And then it became the largest find." He added, 'We have the potential of several Guyanas in the Andaman."
Recent drilling efforts have also yielded promising results. In Suryamani, a find of 4 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent was reported. Neelmani showed a potential of 1.2 million metric tonnes, while another well at a depth of 2,865 metres revealed both oil and gas.
'This is under estimation. They're still trying to find out, but they have struck," Puri said.
In the 2023-24 period under OALP 3, another well at a depth of 2,957 metres uncovered around 5 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent.
'Each place you found the oil, now you're estimating it, then you're digging deeper and deeper. As we speak, we have four places where ONGC and Oil India Limited are digging at 5,000 metres," he shared.
Currently, India relies on imports for around 80% of its oil and 50% of its natural gas requirements. Last week, Puri chaired a review meeting with the petroleum secretary and top officials from Indian energy PSUs. He assured that the country has sufficient energy reserves to meet its needs in the coming months.
This assurance comes at a time when global oil prices are volatile due to tensions in the Middle East, particularly the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.
India continues to diversify its sources by importing oil and gas from a wide range of countries.
First Published:
June 16, 2025, 18:33 IST
