India eyes oil exploration expansion after Middle East war shortages
Hit by the biggest energy supply shock in decades during the Middle East war, import-dependent India is expanding domestic crude exploration, its oil minister says
Hit by the biggest energy supply shock in decades during the Middle East war, import-dependent India is expanding domestic crude exploration, its oil minister says. India, the world's third-largest importer of oil and the second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas, faced major disruptions due to restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict between the United States and Iran. With a temporary US-Iran deal in place to pause hostilities, oil and gas shipments are flowing through the Gulf waterway again, and restrictions and price hikes in India are being rolled back. Also Read | OPEC set to raise oil output by 188,000 Bpd in August But Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said the energy crunch provided fresh impetus for India's expansion of domestic supplies. "We are currently in the process... to bid out about 250,000 square kilometres (96,500 square miles) of unexplored area," Puri told AFP. India is a modest producer in global terms. Domestic crude production in 2025-2026 was 25.98 million metric tonnes, according to the oil ministry. That meets just 10 percent of India's crude needs, equivalent to roughly 522,000 barrels per day (bpd) -- a figure well below its production peak of just more than 900,000 bpd in 2011.
India survived the energy crunch by expanding its crude suppliers from 27 to 41 countries, including Iran, Venezuela, greater purchases from Russia and several African nations. New Delhi has previously been criticised by both the United States and Europe for its purchase of Russian oil, with critics arguing that it bankrolled Moscow's war against Kyiv. But Puri said India had a "pragmatic approach" that put its energy needs above "ideological considerations". 'Ocean of energy opportunities' - The country's domestic crude production is concentrated in the west -- in its Mumbai offshore fields, Rajasthan and Gujarat -- as well as the northeastern state of Assam. But Puri has hailed what he calls an "ocean of energy opportunities" off India's Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, an 800-kilometre-long (500-mile) chain of environmentally sensitive islands in the seas bordering Thailand and Indonesia. The vast Andaman Basin is geologically similar to hydrocarbon-bearing basins in Southeast Asia. Puri posted a video on social media in June of a gas flare at an exploratory well drilled in the Andaman Sea by state-owned Oil India. "Large number of deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration wells are planned in our offshore basins to fully exploit our hydrocarbon reserves," Puri said when he released the video.
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