New Delhi: In what can be a major turning point for the country’s economy, the Government has said that India is on the verge of discovering a transformational oil reserve in the Andaman Sea.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri told the media recently that this discovery could be as large as the one made has compared in Guyana.
The minister drew a comparison to the substantial oil find by Hess Corporation and CNOOC in Guyana, which currently ranks 17th globally in oil reserves with an estimated 11.6 billion barrels of oil and gas.
Guyana has become a major player in the global oil market due to substantial offshore oil discoveries, particularly within the Stabroek Block led by ExxonMobil.
The country is projected to become the world’s largest per capita oil producer, with production anticipated to exceed one million barrels per day by 2027.
A successful discovery of oil reserves in the Andaman Sea on par with those in Guyana would mark a major breakthrough for India. It would significantly reduce the country’s dependence on foreign sources and enhance domestic oil production, as per the reports, which noted that India imports over 85 per cent of its crude oil from other countries.
Puro further noted that beyond smaller discoveries, if India succeeds in uncovering oil reserves in the Andaman region on the scale of Guyana’s, it could propel the country’s economy from US$ 3.7 trillion to US$ 20 trillion.
The reports added that new reserves have been proposed in Odisha and Rajasthan, while exploration efforts are underway in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Companies such as Oil India and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) are actively carrying out drilling and survey operations in the region.
