ONGC to spend ₹1 trillion on deepwater exploration, drill 87 wells

State-run explorer plans to drill 87 deep and ultra-deepwater wells over five years as it seeks to arrest declining domestic crude oil and natural gas production

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd plans to spend ₹1 lakh crore on deepwater exploration activities in the next five years, targeting the drilling of 87 wells during the period, the company’s management said on Monday.

 

India’s largest upstream firm plans to drill eight deep and ultra-deepwater wells in the current financial year (FY27), followed by 10 wells in FY28, 20 wells in FY29, 22 wells in FY30 and 27 wells in FY31, as the government recently approved a fiscal allocation of ₹84,084 crore under the Samudra Manthan programme.

 

The management, however, did not clarify whether the investment of ₹20,000 crore per year would be entirely funded by the company or would also include the government’s share.

  

ONGC Chairman A K Singh highlighted that India urgently requires a discovery to arrest the declining domestic output of crude oil and natural gas. ONGC has engaged global energy giant BP as a technical service provider (TSP) in its Mumbai High field and western offshore blocks to boost output.

 

ONGC’s Krishna Godavari basin, or KG 98/2, crude oil production has declined to 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) currently, against an estimated peak production target of 35,000 bpd, said Singh.

 

The company plans capital expenditure of ₹30,000 crore for 2026-27 (FY27), compared with ₹35,878 crore spent last year.

 

ONGC is also in the advanced stages of setting up its trading company either in Dubai or Singapore, which is expected by the end of the current year, the chairman added.

 

ONGC’s overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), is in talks with US authorities to gain operatorship of its two assets in Venezuela and expects a decision on the same in three months. OVL received the required approval from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to operate in Venezuela in July 2026.