Govt has opened 1 million sq km of new offshore area to step up oil & gas hunt: Hardeep Puri
oil and gas exploration
with the opening of nearly one million square kilometres of erstwhile 'No-Go' offshore areas in 2022, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, informed the Parliament on Tuesday.
"This move has unlocked significant exploration frontiers, especially in deepwater and frontier regions such as the Andaman-Nicobar (AN) offshore basin, and has been instrumental in triggering the current momentum in offshore activity," the minister said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
Since 2015, Exploration and Production (E&P) companies operating in India have reported 172
hydrocarbon discoveries
, including 62 in offshore areas. The minister highlighted the geological significance of the AN basin, which lies at the junction of the Andaman and Nicobar Basins within the Bengal-Arakan sedimentary system.
The tectonic setting, located at the boundary of the Indian and Burmese plates, has led to the formation of numerous stratigraphic traps that are conducive to hydrocarbon accumulation. This geological promise is further amplified by the basin's proximity to proven petroleum systems in Myanmar and North Sumatra. The region has attracted renewed global interest following significant gas discoveries in South Andaman offshore Indonesia, underlining the geological continuity across the region, the minister said.
While the favourable geology sets a strong foundation, Puri emphasised that the real breakthrough has come from the government's strategic policy interventions and a new exploration approach. The revised strategy has enabled aggressive acquisition of seismic data, initiation of both stratigraphic and exploratory drilling, and increased engagement with international exploration partners, several of whom have shown keen interest in the newly accessible frontier blocks, he stated.
In a significant development,
ONGC
and Oil India Ltd (OIL) have launched an ambitious exploration campaign in the Andaman ultra-deepwater region. For the first time, drilling operations are targeting depths of up to 5,000 metres. One such wildcat well, ANDW-7, drilled in a carbonate play in the East Andaman Back Arc region, has yielded encouraging geological insights. These include traces of light crude and condensate in cutting samples, heavy hydrocarbons like C-5 neo-pentane in trip gases, the minister further stated.
These findings establish, for the first time, the existence of an active thermogenic petroleum system in the region, comparable to those in Myanmar and North Sumatra. While commercial reserves remain to be established, this campaign has validated the presence of a working petroleum system and laid the foundation for focused exploration in the area, the minister said.
Providing an overview of the exploration outcomes so far, the minister informed that the ONGC has made hydrocarbon discoveries in 20 blocks, with an estimated reserve of 75 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE). OIL, on its part, has made seven oil and gas discoveries over the past four years, with reserves estimated at 9.8 million barrels of oil and 2,706.3 million standard cubic meters of gas.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Indian Express
Kal Penn at Express Adda: ‘In content creation, people taking fewer risks… It (art) needs to be subjective'
Talking about his nearly three decade-long career in Hollywood, Kal Penn, American actor-producer of Indian origin, said that he stands on the shoulders of so many Indian and South Asian diaspora actors who are older than him by 40-50 years and whose names people don't know because they never had the opportunities that he had. 'I had those opportunities because of the doors that they kicked down in Hollywood,' he said, emphasising that contrary to popular perception, there was no 'overnight switch' that created platforms for diaspora artists. Penn, also an author, TV show host and former White House staffer, was in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Friday. 'It is easy to use a 2025 microscope and say I should have done that in 1998,' said Penn, recalling that he was told he couldn't study acting and was called a 'sell-out' for choosing to pursue theatre and arts. Talking about his early films, he said: 'People ask me if I regret playing the character of Taj Mahal in Van Wilder (2002), a teen sex comedy. I always say, first of all, you are welcome. Because without that, there would be no Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). And without that, I would not have got The Namesake (2006).' It was Mira Nair's then 14-year-old son Zohran Mamdani, who is now a New York State Assembly member running for Mayor, who suggested Penn's name for The Namesake. Asked about 'liberalism in Hollywood', Penn said: 'It is the same liberalism you see supporting (Joe) Biden and (Kamala) Harris in their assault on Gaza, which is not that different from Donald Trump and JD Vance's assault on Gaza. If you care about human rights, you see a distinct line, but I don't see one with liberals in general. If you see what the Democratic Party has been doing on that particular issue, wages or taxation with a select few states, they have not really been wonderful in the way that true progressives have been.' The actor, who wears many hats, served as White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. Looking back at the Obama administration, Penn said he wished more had been done to secure public arts institutions. 'We gave in to the fear-mongering around funding the arts. Now those institutions are getting dismantled,' he said. Commenting on the contemporary entertainment scenario, Penn said: 'In content creation, people are taking fewer risks now. That's why there is the perception that the lowest common denominator is the only thing that is being made now… It (art) needs to be subjective and not everything should be for everybody. I am not precious about the stuff I watch or the genres I want to be in. If I like a script or a story, that is enough. One of the challenges we are facing now is, if something does not appeal to business leaders or financiers think it should appeal to… it may not get greenlit. I hope that changes because that's when you see more interesting content.' While stand-up comics have come under the scanner in India and the US, the actor made it clear that he appreciates the work of those who have an authentic voice. 'It does not mean I have to share their lived experience. It means that I find their style of storytelling vulnerable, authentic and fun to watch,' he said. Commenting on the rise of incidents when people are offended by comedians, he said he does not understand the extreme reaction. 'Sometimes, we misunderstand what getting cancelled means. Then, on other occasions, a comedian makes regressive jokes which upset people. I understand that. But as a relative purist, ideally I would defend the right to free speech even if that (the joke) bothers me.' Connecting the growth of Indian streaming content to global creative trends, he praised shows like Delhi Crime and Made in Heaven for handling complex themes without pretending to represent a single, simplified idea of India. 'What excites me the most is how Indian creators are making space for stories that are messy, local, honest, sometimes deeply political, sometimes just weird and joyful,' he said. Asked about South Asian solidarity, especially between Indian and Pakistani artists abroad, he said: 'There is a shared experience among the diaspora. There are some divisions that exist on the sub-continent… there is also an undercurrent of the same stigmatisation that we all go through. Not just actors, but Nepali filmmakers and Sri Lankan creative people.' The Express Adda is a series of informal interactions organised by The Indian Express Group and features those at the centre of change. Previous guests at the Adda include Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, philanthropist Bill Gates, actors Pankaj Tripathi and Tabu, oncologist and writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, musician T M Krishna, ecologist Romulus Whitaker and writer William Dalrymple.
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Indian Express
What Trump is actually doing — and why India needs to press reform & reset
FOR all the disquiet in Delhi over US President Donald Trump's sugar-uncoated remarks, his rough and ready tactics on trade, there needs to be a sobering acknowledgment of two realities: one, like it or not, tough tactics often win on the street in a world that's never stopped being an unfair place; and, two, Trump has prevailed. Most mainstream economists dismissed his approach, warning that his aggressive tariff regime would spell disaster for the US economy. Yet, four months after unveiling his first tariff chart on April 2—dubbed 'Liberation Day'— and his second on Friday, Trump has gained enough ground to claim a significant victory. Like a gambler, who believes he is on a winning streak, Trump is set to roll the dice for far more sweeping changes in the post-war global financial and technological orders. The US President's bilateral negotiations are being described as the 'Trump Round' of trade talks, echoing the major rounds of GATT and WTO negotiations that shaped global commercial order. With the exception of Canada and China, most countries refrained from retaliatory tariffs. Instead, they lined up outside the White House, eager to strike deals before the extended August 1 deadline. India was among the early partners to start trade talks but failed to close a deal. While many major economies and middle powers signed agreements on Trump's terms, India now finds itself in the company of Brazil, Burma, and Switzerland facing steep US tariffs. To its credit, Delhi did recognise trade as central to Trump's second-term agenda. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's February 13 meeting with Trump produced a joint statement affirming the goal of expanding bilateral trade to $500 billion and launching time-bound trade negotiations. India negotiated in good faith and continuously. But the gap between India's negotiating brief and Trump's maximalist agenda proved too wide to bridge. Trump's growing impatience was evident in a barrage of tweets targeting India, while senior administration figures—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Marco Rubio—spoke publicly about the President's 'frustration' with Delhi's posture. Frustration had also defined Trump's first-term trade engagement with India. Robert Lighthizer, Trump's former US Trade Representative, recounts in his book, No Trade is Free, how difficult it was to conclude even a modest trade agreement with Delhi. He placed the blame not on India's bureaucracy, but on the entrenched interests of the Indian capitalists that fiercely guard the barriers protecting them from external competition. Lighthizer revealed he kept files on top Indian tycoons—whom he labeled 'oligarchs'—to better understand Delhi's negotiating strategy. Trump's complaint about India's 'obnoxious' non-tariff barriers rings familiar. India's neighbours have long voiced similar grievances, although a lot more politely. Yet, the deeper issue may be Delhi's underestimation of the scale and ambition of the Trump Round. Trump's goal was not merely a new bilateral deal here or there, but a systemic overhaul of the global trading order constructed after the Second World War and revamped at the turn of the millennium. On the campaign trail and in office, Trump has argued that the international trade regime has failed the American people—and must be overturned. The strategy, often dismissed as irrational, had a logic of its own. Stephen Miran, Trump's economic adviser, argued in a paper written before the presidential election that Washington could exploit the global export dependence on the US market—and allies' reliance on US security guarantees—to rewrite the rules. Miran describes the post-war free-trade order as a political construct, in which US policy sacrificed domestic industry for Cold War geopolitical goals. He proposed replacing blanket multilateralism with 'strategic pluralism,' forging separate deals with different nations based on US leverage. Before taking over at the Treasury, Bessent, too, hinted at the broader potential of tariffs—not just to reshape trade, but to pressure states on energy, currency, and strategic alignment. For Bessent, Trump's strategy was about a grand rebalancing of the global economy in America's favour. Trump has not held back. He has used tariffs for a variety of objectives. He imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil to weaken President Lula and help his rival Jair Bolsonaro. He is threatening tariffs on Indian and Chinese oil imports from Russia and using economic leverage to push BRICS countries away from their loose talk on de-dollarisation. In the last four months, three core pillars of Trump's strategy have become visible: using tariffs to narrow trade and fiscal deficits; mobilising investment to reindustrialise the US; and compelling trade partners to buy American energy and goods. Even countries with minimal trade ties to the US have had to offer something of interest to the White House. Pakistan's offering was its allegedly 'rich' oilfields. The EU, Japan, and South Korea have made sweeping pledges, including tariff concessions, major investments, and hefty American purchases. Whether these commitments are realised is another question. But they have delivered the optics of victory that Trump craves. What India offered remains unclear—but evidently, it was not enough. If Delhi was unprepared for Trump's counter-revolution in trade, it now faces an even more profound challenge: coping with a broader transformation of the global financial and technological order. Trump is targeting the foundations of the old monetary system. His administration's embrace of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins promises to reinforce the dollar's dominance over the global system and the US ability to leverage it. At the same time, Trump is aggressively deregulating artificial intelligence. At a recent AI summit in Pittsburgh, he announced a sweeping new policy to promote American AI dominance—especially over China—and pledged to invest a significant share of the revenues secured through trade negotiations into AI-driven industrial renewal. Trump's vision of American resurgence hinges less on outsourcing work and insourcing labour and more on technological innovation to restore US industrial might. In short, Trump is not just renegotiating trade. He is leading a radical overhaul of American capitalism by reshoring key elements of the supply chains, promoting a national industrial policy, and investing in tech-centric manufacturing in the United States. As India resumes trade talks with the US later this month, it must recognise this historic moment in the evolution of the global economy. Any negotiating strategy premised on maintaining the status quo at home at a time of radical change abroad will leave India more vulnerable—not just to US pressure, but to the accumulating costs of missing a long-overdue internal economic transformation. This is a moment that demands India to focus on reforming its own economy to make it globally competitive and technologically agile. India owes this to itself – and to its future. (C. Raja Mohan is a contributing editor on international affairs for The Indian Express)
Time of India
15 minutes ago
- Time of India
‘India no longer just a market, it's a mindset'
Kolkata: The 33rd Annual Conference of Views Exchange, held on Saturday at Taj Bengal, Kolkata, brought together thought leaders, policy shapers, and finance professionals for a day-long seminar titled "Breakthrough to Excellence". Under the leadership of president Rishi Khator, the conference reaffirmed its founding philosophy: "Explore, Expand, Excel". The day's historical resonance was not lost on the audience. In his inaugural address, Rishi Khator noted that Aug 2 marks the day the Indian tricolour was designed by Pingali Venkayya in 1876, and also the date the East India Company handed over power to the British Crown in 1858, a reminder of how transformative shifts often begin with symbolic gestures and bold ideas. The conference opened with a keynote by Sivakumar Sundaram, CEO of The Times of India. Citing today's The Economic Times, he spoke of the growing global confidence in India as a strategic investment hub, with giants like Apple, Coca-Cola, and FedEx increasing their footprint. "India is no longer just a market, it's a mindset," he said. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata He urged chartered accountants to evolve from compliance officers to consequence navigators, playing a pivotal role in shaping their clients' entrepreneurial journeys. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Libas Purple Days Sale Libas Undo "Capital must flow like ideas — towards innovation, deep tech, and climate action," he remarked, while emphasising that AI will never replace the uniquely human judgment that CAs must reclaim. His call to "design for agility, go beyond numbers, and become the human voice in an AI world" struck a resonant chord with the audience. Chief guest Suresh Prabhu, former Union minister, highlighted the need for inclusive growth and economic coexistence. "India's future lies in its people," he said, advocating for middle-class expansion and district-level development as key to reaching the $35 trillion GDP milestone by 2047. He stressed a balance between savings and consumption, and the importance of public-private synergy to achieve equitable prosperity. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Friendship Day wishes , messages and quotes !
