Oil India to Spend ₹15,000 Crore on Deepwater Exploration Wells in Andaman, KG, Mahanadi and Kerala-Konkan Basins; Numaligarh Refinery Expansion to 9 MTPA Due by March 2027
Oil India Ltd plans to spend ₹15,000 crore over the next three years on deepwater exploration wells. The wells will be drilled across acreages in the Andaman, Krishna-Godavari, Mahanadi and Kerala-Konkan sedimentary basins. The company's chairman and managing director announced the plan at a post-AGM briefing.
The drilling plan is supported by the central government's Samudra Manthan scheme, which has an approved outlay of ₹84,084 crore through 2030-31. The scheme covers up to 50 per cent of eligible exploratory drilling costs, capped at ₹675 crore per well. Oil India also plans to bid in upcoming Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) rounds and is exploring joint bids with international oil companies.
Oil India's subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) is expanding capacity from 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 9 MTPA. The expansion is expected to be commissioned by March 31, 2027. Stabilisation is likely to take another 9-12 months.
Oil India also plans to expand its clean energy portfolio in solar energy and compressed biogas (CBG). It expects the government's recently approved GOBARdhan scheme to support its plans to set up CBG plants. The government has approved ₹23,731 crore of financial support under that scheme. The source does not give locations, capacities or investment sizes for the solar and CBG projects.
