India Wants to Look for Offshore Oil Outside the Economic Zone
According to The Times of India newspaper, exploration of the continental shelf in other areas will allow assessing the potential for hydrocarbons and other minerals in the interests of the country‘s economic security.
The Government of India plans to involve the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd in the exploration of oil fields offshore the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea outside its 200–mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This is reported by The Times of India newspaper, citing sources.
“The development of this plan, which is underway against the background of the increased presence of Chinese scientific vessels off the Indian coast, can be considered as a step by New Delhi to consolidate territories outside the EEZ and declare such shelf areas on the east and west coasts of the country sovereign,“ the interlocutors of the publication said.
Exploration of the continental shelf in these areas, according to them, will allow to assess the potential for the occurrence of hydrocarbons and other minerals in the interests of India‘s economic security and economic development.
In July, India’s Minister of Oil and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, called for boosting oil and gas production on its territory in order to reduce the South Asian republic‘s dependence on imports and ensure the availability of fuel. The Indian territory contains about 651.8 million tons of crude oil and 1138.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, he noted.
The coastline of India is 7,517 km. The main Indian oil fields Mumbai–Hai and Bassein are located offshore off the west coast, and ONGC is implementing hydrocarbon production projects with investments of $10 billion off the east coast. India is the world‘s third largest consumer of oil in the world and depends on imports, which provide more than 85% of its hydrocarbon needs.
