Oil India Limited on Friday, June 5, announced the discovery of natural gas in its third exploratory well in the Andaman shallow offshore block, further indicating the presence of hydrocarbon in the region.
The state-owned Maharatna company informed that the Vijayapuram-3 (Loc. OAEB) well, drilled under the Offshore Andaman Block AN-OSHP-2018/1 as part of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), is located nearly 15 kms off the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 355 metres, IANS reported.
In a regulatory filing to the exchanges, Oil India said that the drilling work was carried out at a depth of more than 1,900 metres in the Eocene formation.
Congratulating the company on X, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri wrote, “An ocean of energy opportunities reinforced in the Andaman Sea! Very happy to report the presence of natural gas in Sri Vijayapuram-3 an exploratory well drilled by Oil India Ltd. 15 km off the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 355 meters.”
He added, “Initial production testing of the well at the depth of 1900 plus meters in the Eocene formation has established the presence of natural gas through continuous flaring. Oil India is carrying out gas sampling to assess the composition & calorific value of gas and to carry out isotope studies to understand the genesis of the gas.”
Puri said that under the Samudra Manthan Mission (National Deep Water Exploration Mission) announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day 2025, “large number of deepwater & Ultra deepwater exploration wells are planned in our offshore basins to fully exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.”
“Presence of hydrocarbon is now reported in 2(Two) wells out of 3 (Three) exploratory wells drilled by OIL in current exploratory campaign off Andaman Basin,” he added.
Congratulations @OilIndiaLimited !
An ocean of energy opportunities reinforced in the Andaman Sea!
Very happy to report the presence of natural gas in Sri Vijayapuram-3 an exploratory well drilled by Oil India Ltd. 15 km off the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water… pic.twitter.com/j6QvWqZkFx— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) June 5, 2026
Oil India has informed that the initial production testing of the well confirmed the presence of natural gas.
“Oil India Limited is pleased to announce the presence of natural gas in its 3rd exploratory well Vijayapuram-3 (Loc. OAEB), drilled 15 km oƯ the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 355 meters in the OƯshore Andaman Block AN-OSHP-2018/1 under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP),” it said.
Currently, gas sampling is underway to assess the composition and calorific value of the discovery.