The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas finalized the operational framework on October 5, 2026, for the ambitious eighty-four thousand eighty-four crore rupee ‘Samudra Manthan Mission’, structured to dramatically expand deep-sea and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon exploration across India’s exclusive economic zone. The multi-year exploration campaign targets untapped sedimentary basins across the Krishna-Godavari deep offshore, Mahanadi offshore, and Andaman maritime sectors.
Geological surveys and preliminary seismic data indicate that the designated deep-sea blocks harbor an estimated six hundred million metric tons of oil equivalent in recoverable petroleum and natural gas resources. Under the mission roadmap, the government will deploy state-of-the-art seismic mapping vessels, offer subsidized exploration risk-sharing mechanisms to domestic and international energy majors, and streamline environmental and statutory clearances for deepwater exploratory drilling.
Energy economists underscored that developing domestic offshore energy reserves is vital for mitigating India’s heavy reliance on volatile imported hydrocarbons, which currently account for over eighty-five percent of national crude consumption. Petroleum industry executives welcomed the capital outlay, predicting that long-term deep-sea extraction will strengthen domestic energy security and drive technological innovation in underwater engineering.
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