Cabinet okays ₹84,084-cr. Samudra Manthan for offshore exploration
The Union Cabinet approved the National Offshore Exploration Scheme “Samudra Manthan” with a total outlay of ₹84,084 crore for offshore exploration till FY2030–31.
What happened: Union Cabinet approval for “Samudra Manthan”
The Union Cabinet approved a total outlay of ₹84,084 crore for the National Offshore Exploration Scheme “Samudra Manthan” under the Petroleum Ministry. The scheme’s intended use of the corpus runs until FY2030–31. The approval makes the scheme’s component-wise structure and the government’s role in enabling offshore exploration part of the policy baseline for the period leading to FY2030–31.
Budget structure: what ₹84,084 crore is meant to fund
The scheme funding is divided into the following components (figures as approved):
Deepwater exploration drilling: 60 deepwater exploration wells with an allocation of ₹43,200 crore. Government support covers up to 50% of eligible drilling costs, capped at ₹675 crore per well.Offshore data acquisition: allocation of ₹28,534 crore.Common offshore infrastructure hubs: allocation of ₹10,000 crore to enable commercialisation of offshore discoveries.Oil and gas manufacturing and services zones: allocation of ₹2,000 crore to promote domestic manufacturing and localisation of critical equipment and services.
Background and rationale: how seismic and deepwater drilling can reduce exploration risk
