ONGC Starts Deepwater Exploration in Odisha

27 Jul 2026, 09:01 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Odisha has moved to the centre of India’s next phase of offshore energy exploration after state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) kicked off the country’s first deepwater exploratory drilling campaign in the Mahanadi offshore basin, a project expected to determine whether one of India’s most promising offshore regions can significantly boost domestic oil and gas production.

The operation centres on the exploratory well MN-DW18-1-H-D, located around 23 nautical miles from ONGC’s Konark discovery off the Odisha coast. Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri virtually initiated the drilling from New Delhi on Saturday, formally launching what the company describes as one of the country’s most technologically demanding exploration programmes.

The project builds on the momentum created by ONGC’s recent Utkal and Konark discoveries, which have considerably strengthened confidence in the hydrocarbon potential of the Mahanadi offshore basin. The corporation believes the new well will generate critical geological data, improve understanding of the basin’s subsurface structures and, if successful, pave the way for commercial production in the future.

The drilling also forms a key component of the Centre’s Samudra Manthan Campaign, an initiative aimed at unlocking India’s deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reserves. The campaign gathered pace after the government opened nearly one million square kilometres of previously restricted offshore acreage for exploration under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), creating fresh opportunities for energy companies to explore frontier basins.

As reported by the Business Standard, According to ONGC, India’s eastern and western offshore sedimentary basins, extending into water depths of up to 3,000 metres, are estimated to contain more than 5,600 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) in hydrocarbon resources. The company considers these reserves to be India’s next major energy frontier as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil and natural gas.

The corporation said every exploration prospect assessed, every well drilled and every discovery made strengthens India’s ability to raise domestic production, cut import dependence and improve long-term energy security and self-reliance.

Preparing for such complex offshore operations, ONGC established its dedicated Deepwater Exploration Mission Centre (DeepX) in Mumbai earlier this year. Inaugurated on January 5, the facility brings together advanced geoscientific interpretation, seismic analysis, specialised technical expertise, integrated data analytics, training capabilities and international collaborations under the company’s “One Company, One Data” philosophy.

The company said DeepX has been created to enhance India’s ability to evaluate technically challenging offshore prospects through advanced seismic interpretation and integrated subsurface studies, thereby improving the success rate of future deepwater exploration campaigns.

Beyond the immediate drilling programme, the initiative aligns with the government’s broader strategy of expanding domestic oil and gas output at a time when India continues to rely heavily on imports to meet its energy needs. Discoveries from deepwater basins are expected to diversify the country’s energy sources while reducing vulnerability to international supply disruptions and volatile global crude prices.

Industry experts note that deepwater exploration demands substantial capital investment and sophisticated technology because of extreme water depths, high-pressure reservoirs and harsh operating conditions. Yet successful discoveries can transform a country’s hydrocarbon output over the long term, making such projects strategically significant despite their complexity.

For Odisha, the commencement of drilling marks another milestone in the emergence of the Mahanadi basin as a strategic offshore energy zone. As exploration activity gathers pace along the state’s coastline following encouraging geological findings in recent years, the basin is increasingly being viewed as one of India’s most promising destinations for future hydrocarbon discoveries. ONGC summed up the significance of the mission by describing deep waters as India’s “next frontier”, signalling the country’s readiness to push exploration into more challenging offshore regions in pursuit of energy independence.