India Aims to Replicate Guyana’s Success in Deepwater Oil Exploration
India is stepping up its efforts to boost domestic fossil fuel production, placing special emphasis on deepwater exploration in the Andaman region, and aiming to replicate Guyana’s success. This was stated to journalists by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.
The minister recalled that the government had previously decided to significantly expand exploration in the sedimentary basin area of the Andaman Sea. Drawing a parallel with the major oil discovery in Guyana, Puri noted:
“They drilled 46 wells and found no oil, but with the 47th well, they struck oil.”
“It became the largest discovery. We have the potential for several Guyanas in the Andaman Sea,” he said.
“In every location where oil has been found [in India], assessments are now being carried out. Then we need to drill deeper and deeper. As we speak, there are four sites where ONGC and Oil India Limited are drilling at depths of 5,000 meters,” the minister added.
India is the third-largest oil consumer in the world, with a high import dependency, exceeding 85%.
