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Samudra Manthan: offshore oil and gas exploration, HELP and OALP

By CAShorts DeskPublished Updated Source: PIB explainer, 3 August 2026 (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas)

Samudra Manthan: offshore oil and gas exploration, HELP and OALP
Illustration (AI-generated)

Samudra Manthan, the National Offshore Exploration Scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, aims to unlock India's offshore oil and gas. It funds seismic surveys, shares the cost of deepwater drilling, builds common offshore infrastructure and sets up a manufacturing zone. It was approved on 31 July 2026 with a ₹84,084-crore first phase running to 2030-31.

Syllabus: GS3 · Indian Economy & Growth; Prelims · Geography; GS3 · Infrastructure

In short

Samudra Manthan, the National Offshore Exploration Scheme approved on 31 July 2026 with a ₹84,084-crore Phase I to 2030-31, shares exploration risk to raise domestic output.

Samudra Manthan Phase I outlayDrilling43,200 croreSeismic data28,534 croreCommon10,000 croreManufacturing2,000 crore

Samudra Manthan rightly shares data and risk, but funded wells must be chosen openly and drilled only with coastal safeguards.

Why it matters

A truck owner buying diesel, a farmer buying fertiliser and a family refilling an LPG cylinder all depend on crude oil and natural gas, and India imports a large share of both. The government puts the crude import bill at about USD 144 billion a year, so a price spike abroad raises costs at home. It also says existing fields lose about 6-7% of their output each year, so new finds are needed just to keep production level. By the government's estimate, a deepwater exploratory well costs about USD 125-150 million and may find nothing, which keeps investors away. Paying for the data and sharing the drilling risk is meant to bring that investment back; the larger question is energy security for a growing economy.

Prelims pointers

  • Article 297: lands, minerals and other things of value under India's territorial waters, continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone vest in the Union.
  • UNCLOS zones from the baseline: territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone up to 24, Exclusive Economic Zone up to 200.
  • Union List Entry 53: regulation and development of oilfields and mineral oil resources, and petroleum, are Union subjects.
  • Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948: parent law for oil and gas leases; the 2025 amendment widened 'mineral oils' to cover shale gas and coal bed methane.
  • Offshore minerals other than oil and gas fall under a separate law, the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002, run by the Ministry of Mines.
  • Revenue sharing contract: the contractor bears all exploration, development and production costs and pays the government an agreed share of revenue, with no cost recovery.
  • Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (1993), under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is the upstream technical regulator and hosts the National Data Repository.
  • Samudra Manthan is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, distinct from the Deep Ocean Mission of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), consider the following statements:

1. It provides a single licence for exploring both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons, such as shale gas and coal bed methane.

2. It replaced revenue sharing contracts with production sharing contracts for new blocks.

3. Under its Open Acreage Licensing Programme, companies may propose areas of their choice to be offered for bidding.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 and 2 only
  2. (b) 2 and 3 only
  3. (c) 1 and 3 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

1 is correct: HELP (2016) gives one uniform licence for all hydrocarbons, conventional and unconventional. 2 is incorrect: it did the reverse, moving new blocks from production sharing to revenue sharing contracts. 3 is correct: under OALP a company studies the data, picks an area and submits an expression of interest, and the area is then put up for competitive bidding.

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