India's lesser-known Category-II and III basins, including Mahanadi, Andaman Sea, Bengal, and Kerala-Konkan, remain largely unexplored, harboring an estimated 22 billion barrels of undiscovered hydrocarbon potential, according to a report by S&P Global Commodity Insights. This revelation underscores the vast untapped resources available for energy exploration within the country.
In the context of global trends, companies have intensified their focus on offshore, deepwater, and ultra-deepwater areas following major discoveries such as those by Harbour Energy and Mubadala in the North-Sumatra Basin, which have spotlighted the Andaman Sea as a critical area for frontier exploration.
Rahul Chauhan, an upstream analyst at Commodity Insights, emphasized the potential for significant developments in India's sector. "ONGC and Oil India hold acreages in the Andaman waters under OLAP and have planned a few significant projects. However, India still awaits the entry of an international oil company with deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration expertise to participate in current and upcoming OALP bidding rounds and explore these frontier regions," Chauhan said.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently addressed the scope of these basins during a conference organized by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. "Only 10% of our sedimentary basin area is under exploration today," Puri noted, adding that this figure is expected to increase to 16% by the end of 2024 following the award of blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) rounds.
