New Delhi: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday welcomed the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) natural gas discovery in the Mahanadi Offshore Basin as a major milestone for India’s offshore energy exploration.
Taking to X, the minister said ONGC continues to unlock new domestic energy sources by exploring India’s deep and ultra-deepwater frontiers as part of the Samudra Manthan initiative launched under the visionary guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The discovery, along with other finds in the area, opens up the potential for cluster development through shared facilities under the PNG Rules, 2025, providing a pathway to bring deepwater resources into production more efficiently. Kudos to Team ONGC!” Puri posted.
The discovery was made on September 18 at a deepwater well located about 43 km off Konark on the Odisha coast — the first well drilled by ONGC in the Mahanadi Basin under the Samudra Manthan campaign.
Spudded on July 25 using the drillship Platinum Explorer, it was drilled to a target depth of 1,623 metres. After evaluation of subsurface data, the well was perforated on September 18 and has since been flowing gas at an encouraging rate while maintaining healthy reservoir pressure.
ONGC, however, clarified that the discovery is yet to be established as commercially viable. Further appraisal and commercial evaluation will be required to determine the size of the discovery, recoverable resources and its development potential.
The location close to the Odisha coast could prove significant for future development if commercial viability is confirmed. ONGC said the find, along with other discoveries in the area, could potentially be developed through shared infrastructure and facilities under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 2025.
