Hardeep Puri: India unlocking its vast offshore potential

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said India’s vast offshore potential is being unlocked with openness, collaboration, and cutting-edge science to fulfill the country’s quest towards energy ‘Aatmanirbharta’ under ‘Samudra Manthan’-National offshore Mission.

In posts on social media platform X, he highlighted that India is moving beyond blind exploration and is embracing a bold multi-client model that allows more minds to interpret, innovate, and discover, thereby decisively changing how Exploration & Production has been considered a sector of uncertainty.

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The Minister was speaking on the occasion of a conference on “Data Driven Exploration” convened by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) in the context of India’s expanding exploration agenda under ‘Samudra Manthan’ to engage industry on accelerating India’s exploration outcomes through a stronger data ecosystem.

The conference was attended by senior officials and representatives of national oil companies. With a renewed focus on offshore and frontier basin development, the conference aimed to engage industry stakeholders on the role of seismic data in enabling exploration outcomes.

There was clear industry consensus at the conference that availability, quality, and accessibility of seismic data directly determine exploration outcomes.

Participants highlighted that gaps in data coverage, particularly in frontier and deepwater basins, continue to constrain basin prospectivity, investment inflow, and exploration intensity.

They were of the view that significant value can be unlocked through reprocessing and reinterpretation of legacy datasets, leveraging advancements in imaging technologies and AI-driven interpretation.

The participants emphasised the need for targeted and accelerated seismic acquisition, aligned with upcoming licensing rounds. Global experience indicates that early-stage data densification materially improves participation and investment outcomes.

Multi-client seismic models were identified as a potential mechanism to improve cost efficiency and broaden participation, particularly in frontier basins. The role of the government in enabling the data ecosystem was emphasised, including policy support, continued investment in data acquisition, and strengthening of data access frameworks (NDR). Policy clarity and predictability were highlighted as critical to unlocking industry participation.