India Eyes Guyana-Scale Oil Discovery In Andaman Sea, Unveils Major Exploration Push

New Delhi, July 10 (KNN) Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday outlined India’s strategic vision for energy security and hydrocarbon development at the 9th OPEC International Seminar.

Delivering a keynote on “Oil Markets: Energy Security, Growth & Prosperity”, the Minister announced that India has opened 2.5 lakh square kilometres of offshore acreage for exploration under OALP Round-10 and is poised to significantly scale up its upstream footprint. 

“We are close to discovering a Guyana-scale oilfield in the Andaman Sea,” Puri revealed, describing it as one of India’s most ambitious efforts to expand hydrocarbon exploration.

India plans to increase its exploration area to 0.5 million sq km by 2025 and 1.0 million sq km by 2030. 

This is supported by reforms such as the shift to a Revenue Sharing Model under HELP, amendments to the Oilfields Regulation and Development Act of 1948, and a drastic 99 percent reduction in 'No-Go' areas, freeing up over 1 million sq km for potential hydrocarbon exploration.

As the world’s third-largest energy consumer, with daily demand nearing 5.4 million barrels, Puri positioned India as both a growth engine and long-term stabiliser of the global oil market. 

He stated that India is expected to contribute 25 percent of incremental global energy demand growth in the coming years.

To manage global volatility, India has diversified its crude oil imports from 27 to 40 countries, boosted domestic production, and advanced its transition to a gas-based economy. 

The country is also expanding refining capacity to 310 MMTPA by 2028 and developing a USUSD 300 billion petrochemical industry by 2030, with the aim of becoming a global refining and energy trade hub.

Despite volatile geopolitical conditions, Puri said India has successfully balanced energy availability, affordability, and sustainability, highlighting that it remains the only major economy to reduce fuel prices amid global surges. “We aim to achieve energy independence by 2047 and Net Zero emissions by 2070,” he reaffirmed.

A key pillar of India’s energy strategy is the promotion of biofuels, with the Global Biofuels Alliance now comprising 29 countries and 14 international organisations. 

India is accelerating adoption of ethanol, compressed biogas (CBG), biodiesel, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as part of its decarbonisation roadmap.

(KNN Bureau)