ONGC plans to intensify its exploration activity and has allocated an exploration budget of INR31,000 crore (approx. $4 billion) for the period FY2022-25, an increase of 150% over the allocation for the period FY2019-22. The NOC also plans to leverage international collaborations with ‘reputed global majors’ to boost exploration, for which talks are in an advanced stage. ONGC indicated that its exploration intensification campaign would be funded through its internal program as well as through government funding. 

The government-funded program for appraisal of unapprised offshore areas in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will be done in three sectors namely West Coast of India, East Coast of India and Andaman offshore. For the same, ONGC plans to complete the technical bid opening (TBO) for seismic data acquisition by June 2022. In Andaman Basin, ONGC presently holds two blocks for exploration under Open Acreage Licensing policy (OALP), while the Government of India has also acquired seismic data in some sectors within ‘No-Go’ areas and few prospects have been already identified.  The company plans to drill six wells in the next three years (two under ONGC committed work program, and four through government funding) in the Andaman Basin. For the same, ‘reputed global companies/consultants’ are being invited for the assessment of the basin for future exploration. ONGC’s internal program is divided into three components; re-exploration of mature basins, consolidation of emerging basins, and probing of emerging and new basins. Under its internal program, ONGC is trying to probe around 1,700 million tonne of oil and oil equivalent gas (MMTOE) of Yet-To-Find (YTF) reserves during FY 2022-25. The activities include 2D and 3D seismic survey, followed by drilling of around 115-120 wells with an estimated outlay of INR10,000 crore (approx. $1.3 billion) every year for next three years. In addition, ONGC noted that the Indian government’s facilitation has resulted in release of about 96,000 sq. km of area so far, earlier demarcated as ‘No Go’ zone. ONGC expects this to help achieve its acreage acquisition program of bringing around 500,000 sq. km under active exploration by 2025. 

KeyFacts Energy: ONGC India country profile