Coal news and updates

India witnesses renewed spurt in oil, gas exploration: Puri

India is witnessing a renewed surge in oil and gas exploration, particularly in offshore regions, underscoring the country’s vast untapped hydrocarbon potential. Since 2015, Exploration and Production (E&P) companies operating in India have reported 172 hydrocarbon discoveries, including 62 in offshore areas, informed

“The opening of nearly one million square kilometres of erstwhile 'No-Go' offshore areas in 2022 has been a landmark development. This move has unlocked significant exploration frontiers, especially in deep water and frontier regions such as the Andaman-Nicobar (AN) offshore basin, and has been instrumental in triggering the current momentum in offshore activity,” said the minister in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The Minister highlighted the geological significance of the AN basin, which lies at the junction of the Andaman and Nicobar Basins within the Bengal-Arakan sedimentary system.

Providing an overview of the exploration outcomes so far, the Minister informed that ONGC has made hydrocarbon discoveries in 20 blocks, with an estimated reserve of 75 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE). OIL, on its part, has made seven oil and gas discoveries over the past four years, with reserves estimated at 9.8 million barrels of oil and 2,706.3 million standard cubic meters of gas.

Referring to the Hydrocarbon Resource Assessment Study (HRAS) of 2017, which estimated the AN basin’s hydrocarbon potential at 371 MMTOE, the Minister stated that a 2D broadband seismic survey covering approximately 80,000 Line Kilometres (LKM) of India’s Exclusive Economic Zone, including the AN offshore region, was completed in 2024. Additionally, OIL acquired 22,555 LKM of 2D seismic data during the Deep Andaman Offshore Survey conducted in 2021–22. Several promising geological features have emerged from this data, which are now being validated through ongoing drilling campaigns by ONGC and OIL.