The Cabinet approved the Samudra Manthan offshore exploration scheme on July 31, 2026, according to the Petroleum Ministry's August 1 release. It reports an Rs 84,084 crore outlay through 2030-31.
The programme combines seismic data, exploratory wells, shared offshore infrastructure and manufacturing support. For eligible drilling, the announced government contribution is capped at half the cost or Rs 675 crore per well, whichever is lower.
The technical sequence explains why both surveys and drilling appear in the scheme. The US Energy Information Administration describes marine seismic surveys as using sound waves to investigate geology beneath the seabed. Promising sites are then drilled and tested; development wells follow where a discovery is commercially worthwhile.
Survey data therefore helps choose where to investigate, while a test well supplies direct evidence about a prospect. Sharing drilling costs changes the investor's financial exposure, not the geology being tested.
Likewise, infrastructure addresses a later problem: connecting a discovery to production. The scheme spans these different stages rather than buying a fixed quantity of future oil. Its production ambitions remain conditional on exploration success.
