New Delhi: India’s lesser-known Category-II and III basins, including Mahanadi, Andaman Sea, Bengal, and Kerala-Konkan, remain largely unexplored, harboring an estimated 22 billion barrels of undiscovered hydrocarbon potential, according to a report by S&P Global Commodity Insights. This revelation underscores the vast untapped resources available for energy exploration within the country.
In the context of global trends, companies have intensified their focus on offshore, deepwater, and ultra-deepwater areas following major discoveries such as those by Harbour Energy and Mubadala in the North-Sumatra Basin, which have spotlighted the Andaman Sea as a critical area for frontier exploration.
Rahul Chauhan, an upstream analyst at Commodity Insights, emphasized the potential for significant developments in India’s sector. “ONGC and Oil India hold acreages in the Andaman waters under OLAP and have planned a few significant projects. However, India still awaits the entry of an international oil company with deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration expertise to participate in current and upcoming OALP bidding rounds and explore these frontier regions,” Chauhan said.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently addressed the scope of these basins during a conference organized by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. “Only 10% of our sedimentary basin area is under exploration today,” Puri noted, adding that this figure is expected to increase to 16% by the end of 2024 following the award of blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) rounds.
To date, the OALP has resulted in the award of 144 blocks covering about 244,007 sq km, with the recent announcement of the ninth round offering approximately 136,596 sq km spread over eight sedimentary basins. Puri also highlighted the discovered small field policy, which since its inception in 2015, has garnered nearly $2 billion in investments and brought 29 new players into the field.
“Reducing delays in the approval of field development plans, annual plans, and other regulatory permissions is crucial, especially as our nation’s import dependency continues to rise,” Puri said, underscoring the urgency of enhancing domestic oil production capabilities.
