The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with the Nagaland and Assam governments for increasing domestic exploration and production of oil and gas.
“The North East gave birth to India’s petroleum industry; today, it stands ready to power the next chapter of India’s energy journey as Nagaland will produce oil and gas again after 31 years,” Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote on X.
Highlighting that Assam alone accounts for nearly 22 per cent of India’s crude oil reserves and around 15 per cent of the country’s natural gas reserves, while Nagaland possesses significant hydrocarbon potential in the Naga-Schuppen Belt of the Assam-Arakan Basin, resources where hydrocarbons flow naturally and those which have huge untapped resources, Puri added that the the outlook for E&P (exploration and production) activities in the North East is “extremely promising.”
The North East gave birth to India’s petroleum industry; today, it stands ready to power the next chapter of India’s energy journey as Nagaland will produce oil and gas again after 31 years!
With the signing of a historic tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between Ministry… pic.twitter.com/LX6vQtwY8S
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) June 11, 2026
“By creating a framework for cooperation between the concerned Governments, this MoU signed in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, provides certainty to investors, facilitates operational continuity, enables regulatory coordination and creates conditions necessary for long-term investment decisions,” he noted.
“The resumption of mineral oil operations will generate direct and indirect employment, stimulate local entrepreneurship, strengthen physical infrastructure, create opportunities for contractors, service providers and small businesses, and contribute significantly to the economic development of surrounding communities and the entire NE Region,” he added.