India Unlocks 1 Million Sq Km: A New Era for Oil & Gas Exploration

India has opened up one million square kilometers of its 3.5 million sq. km sedimentary basin—previously classified as a ‘No-Go’ area—for hydrocarbon exploration, marking a major shift in energy policy. The announcement was made by Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, who credited the move to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “visionary leadership” aimed at strengthening domestic oil and gas production and reducing import dependency.

To encourage investment in the exploration and production (E&P) sector, the government has introduced several reforms, notably replacing the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) with the more flexible Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP). The Minister highlighted that under OALP Round IX, 38% of bids focused on these newly accessible areas—a figure expected to increase to 75% in OALP Round X.

OALP X is India’s largest bidding round to date, offering 25 exploration blocks across 13 sedimentary basins, covering a total area of 1,91,986.21 sq. km. These include six onshore blocks, six in shallow offshore zones, one in deep water, and 12 in ultra-deep water regions.

News by Rahul Yelligetti.