By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The Union Cabinet has approved the ₹84,084-crore ‘Samudra Manthan’ National Offshore Exploration Scheme, a major initiative aimed at accelerating offshore oil and gas exploration, to reduce India’s dependence on crude oil imports and strengthening the country’s long-term energy security.
The Central Sector scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas will be implemented till 2030-31 and is being projected as India’s most ambitious offshore hydrocarbon exploration programme.
The government said the scheme is designed to unlock the country’s deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reserves through a combination of modern seismic surveys, financial support for exploration drilling, common offshore infrastructure and promotion of domestic manufacturing.
India currently buys more than 80 percent of the crude oil from abroad, with an annual import bill of nearly USD 144 billion (about ₹13 lakh crore). The government said boosting domestic production has become strategically important amid rising energy demand and global geopolitical uncertainties.
As part of the scheme, the government will acquire and process modern offshore seismic data, drill 60 deepwater exploration wells, develop shared offshore infrastructure hubs and establish Oil and Gas Manufacturing and Services Zones.
To encourage investment in high-risk offshore exploration, the Centre will provide financial support of up to 50 per cent of eligible drilling costs, subject to a ceiling of ₹675 crore per well.
The scheme earmarks ₹28,534 crore for offshore data acquisition, ₹43,200 crore for exploration drilling, ₹10,000 crore for common offshore infrastructure and ₹2,000 crore for manufacturing and services zones. Another ₹350 crore has been allocated for monitoring, digital interventions and outreach.
The government expects the initiative to increase India’s domestic oil and gas production from around 62 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE) to 80 MMTOE annually, while expanding the country’s hydrocarbon resource base from 1.6 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) to 2.2 billion TOE.
According to the government, the additional production could help reduce crude oil imports by nearly ₹1 lakh crore every year, while strengthening India’s energy security and promoting self-reliance in the hydrocarbon sector. Top officials of ONGC and Oil India have welcomed the move as they are unable to increase their oil production in the last few years. The performance parameters of ONGC and Oil India have been reoriented to place greater emphasis on exploration activities, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to expanding India’s domestic hydrocarbon resource base, the government sources said.