The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved ‘Samudra Manthan’ — the National Offshore Exploration Scheme — on Thursday, July 31, 2026, with a total outlay of Rs 84,084 crore for implementation through FY2030-31.
The Central Sector Scheme, run by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, aims to catalyse reserve accretion of more than 600 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent, expand offshore exploration activity, and boost domestic oil and gas production.
Of the total outlay, more than Rs 43,200 crore has been earmarked for deep-sea and ultra-deep-sea drilling over five years through 2031, with support of up to Rs 650 crore per well in deepwater and ultra-deepwater zones, where drilling costs can range from Rs 950 crore to Rs 2,400 crore per well.
The scheme also allocates Rs 10,000 crore for common infrastructure development, Rs 28,534 crore for offshore data acquisition, and Rs 2,000 crore for oil and gas manufacturing and services zones.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw described the scheme as a ‘major game-changer’ that would help India substantially increase domestic production and conserve foreign currency currently spent on crude oil imports.
The scheme’s backers say it is also expected to generate large-scale employment as exploration activity expands across India’s offshore basins in the coming years.
India currently imports a large share of its crude oil requirement, a dependence successive governments have sought to reduce through incentives for domestic exploration and production.
The petroleum ministry has previously run rounds of offshore acreage auctions under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy, aimed at drawing both public and private sector investment into exploration blocks.
Deep-sea and ultra-deep-sea drilling is considered technically demanding and capital-intensive, which is why the scheme sets aside dedicated funding specifically for wells in those zones.
The scheme’s data acquisition component is intended to help identify new sedimentary basins and improve the accuracy of reserve estimates before companies commit to expensive drilling programmes.
Photo: Indian Navy, Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India
