India has greenlit an investment programme of up to 840.84 billion rupees ($8.8 billion) aimed at accelerating offshore oil and gas exploration over the next five years, marking one of the country's most significant commitments to domestic energy security.

The National Offshore Exploration Scheme, approved by the cabinet, will run through the end of the 2030–31 financial year. The government expects the programme to fast-track the addition of more than 600 million tonnes of discoverable oil equivalent to India's reserves.

Funding will cover seismic surveys, data processing and interpretation, and exploration drilling in deepwater and ultra-deepwater zones. These frontier water depths carry greater technical complexity and cost than shallow-water fields but offer access to potentially larger undiscovered hydrocarbon accumulations. The scheme also provides for scientific drilling in frontier basins, the development of shared offshore production and evacuation infrastructure, and the establishment of an integrated oil and gas manufacturing and services hub.

According to the government, the initiative will stimulate investment throughout the exploration and production supply chain, generate long-term commercial opportunities, and bolster domestic technical expertise.

Over the past decade, India has opened the majority of its offshore acreage to exploration, while updating its legal and contractual frameworks and expanding the National Data Repository. Much of India's existing offshore production centres on mature fields in the Arabian Sea, where output has plateaued, intensifying the urgency to locate new reserves.

The new programme forms a central plank of India's strategy to reduce dependence on imported energy. The country currently produces only about 10% of the crude oil it consumes and ranks as the world's third-largest oil importer and second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). With India's energy demand ranked among the fastest-growing globally, closing that supply gap through domestic discoveries carries significant long-term economic and geopolitical weight. The government has also broadened its crude supply base from 27 to 41 countries.

Exploration programmes of this scale typically require several years between seismic surveying, exploratory drilling, appraisal, and first production, meaning any resulting reserve additions will unfold gradually rather than deliver immediate supply.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi first outlined the offshore exploration mission in a public address in August 2025.

In a separate decision, the cabinet approved a $530 million programme for floating solar photovoltaic projects equipped with energy storage. That plan targets 102 GW of installed capacity across reservoirs, canals, and industrial water bodies over five years and is projected to avert 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: Splash247