India is witnessing a significant resurgence in oil and gas exploration activity, particularly in offshore and frontier regions, with the Andaman-Nicobar basin emerging as a new focal point of national and global interest. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri attributed the momentum to landmark policy reforms, strategic seismic surveys, and a bold new approach to frontier exploration.
A key turning point, according to the Minister, was the 2022 decision to open up nearly one million square kilometres of previously restricted ‘No-Go’ offshore zones for exploration. This move has catalyzed a wave of activity in deepwater blocks, especially in the geologically promising Andaman-Nicobar offshore basin.
Since 2015, India’s Exploration and Production (E&P) sector has reported 172 hydrocarbon discoveries, including 62 from offshore blocks. The Andaman-Nicobar region, situated at the tectonic boundary of the Indian and Burmese plates within the Bengal-Arakan sedimentary system, has emerged as a key frontier with the potential for large-scale hydrocarbon deposits. The area’s geological continuity with Myanmar and Indonesia—where major gas finds have been made—adds to its exploration appeal.
The Minister highlighted that national oil companies have begun drilling stratigraphic wells in the region to validate geological models and confirm the presence of active petroleum systems. One of the most significant developments has been ONGC and Oil India Ltd’s (OIL) deepwater campaign in the Andaman ultra-deepwater zone, with drilling operations targeting depths of up to 5,000 metres.
Early results from one such well, ANDW-7 in the East Andaman Back Arc, have revealed positive indicators including traces of light crude, condensates, heavy hydrocarbons like neo-pentane, and reservoir-quality rock formations. While commercial reserves are yet to be established, these findings have for the first time confirmed the presence of an active thermogenic petroleum system in the basin.
Providing exploration statistics, Puri informed that ONGC has made hydrocarbon discoveries in 20 blocks with an estimated reserve of 75 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE), while OIL has reported seven discoveries with reserves totalling nearly 10 million barrels of oil and over 2,700 million standard cubic metres of gas.
The current exploration efforts build on data from the 2017 Hydrocarbon Resource Assessment Study, which estimated the Andaman-Nicobar basin’s potential at 371 MMTOE. A 2D broadband seismic survey covering 80,000 line kilometres of India’s Exclusive Economic Zone, including the Andaman offshore, was completed in 2024. Additionally, OIL collected over 22,000 LKM of seismic data during its 2021–22 Deep Andaman Offshore Survey, revealing several promising geological features now being validated through drilling.
Minister Puri credited this renewed momentum to key reforms introduced since 2014, including the transition from the Production Sharing Contract to the Revenue Sharing Contract model, the launch of the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) and Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP), the creation of the National Data Repository, and the deregulation of crude oil marketing in 2022. These steps, he noted, have created a liberal and investor-friendly exploration framework, offering incentives for frontier drilling and data acquisition.