India’s Energy Surge: Hardeep Puri Heralds Boom in Oil and Gas Exploration
India is experiencing a surge of unprecedented momentum in the field of oil and gas exploration as Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has announced this will be a transformational period backed by a significant wave of exploration activity especially in the offshore area of the Indian continental shelf. The strong push is underpinned by important and deliberate policy actions, as well as the most state-of-the-art levels of exploration, and is unlocking the untapped potential of the country’s vast hydrocarbon wealth contributing to India’s upward trajectory as a growing energy powerhouse. As the world continues to address its energy demands, there is a thrill towards India’s developing trajectory going forward, enhancing India’s energy security supporting its ambition of becoming a $20 trillion economy by 2047.
In a statement to the Rajya Sabha on July 29, 2025, Minister Puri characterized the 2022 opening of almost one million square kilometres of flagged ‘No-Go’ offshore areas as an “opening of frontiers for exploration – a real gamechanger.” This opened up exploration potential, notably in the Andaman-Nicobar (AN) offshore basin, a geologically interesting basin in which the Indian and Burmese plates converge. Mineral exploration and production (E&P) operators have reported 172 discoveries of hydrocarbons, including 62 offshore, for 2015 onwards. ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) have embarked on major exploration campaigns, in realities, and aimed at ultra-deepwater in water depths of around 5000 metres. An interesting wildcat well, ANDW-7, drilled in the East Andaman Back Arc and testing 2496 metres water depth, only drilled about 300 metres, identified traces of light crude, condensate, and heavy hydrocarbons, confirming the presence of an active thermogenic petroleum system similar to the active petroleum systems of Myanmar and North Sumatra.
The potential opportunity in the Andaman basin, estimated to hold 371 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE) by the 2017 Hydrocarbon Resource Assessment Study, is currently being put to rigorous test. A 2024 2D broadband seismic survey over 80,000 line kilometres, coupled with OIL’s 2021-22 Deep Andaman Offshore Survey (22,555 LKM), identified potential geological features similar to those documented in Myanmar and North Sumatra and is currently securing drill substantiation. Puri articulated these efforts, including four proposed stratigraphic wells, have been designed to de-risk future commercial exploration opportunities and build a scientific base for significant resource recognitions.
The increase has been supported by some significant reform measures since 2014, largely the shift to Revenue Sharing Contracts (RSC) under the 2016 Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), the introduction of the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP), and the National Data Repository’s launch in 2017-18, along with financing of ₹7,500 crore for seismic surveys, and stratigraphic drilling. These initiatives allowed for a Government to act investor friendly to enable permits to explorers around the world, like ExxonMobil. Puri’s vision in Urja Varta 2025 demonstrates an exploration landscape augmenting to 0.5 million square kilometers in 2025. India is at roughly 1 million steps by 2030 and offers an opportunity to decrease reliance on 85% oil imports.
Puri believes that the Andaman Sea warrants a lot of attention, much like Guyana’s 11.6 billion-barrel discovery, which can provide 184,440 crore liters of crude. There have been 20 blocks by ONGC (75 MMTOE) and 7 discoveries by OIL (9.8 million barrels, 2,706.3 million cubic meters of gas), but these have not yet expanded to commercial reserves. We would like to balance hydrocarbons in India, while also maximizing objectives like 20% ethanol blending by 2025, but this boom in exploration is a declaration for energy self-reliance, and needs to rally each stakeholder behind a vision that could redefine its economic place among the global community. .
