{"id":80576,"date":"2026-08-01T18:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=80576"},"modified":"2026-08-01T18:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:32:49","slug":"samudra-manthan-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/01-08-2026\/samudra-manthan-scheme","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Samudra Manthan&#8217; &#8211; National Offshore Exploration Scheme\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Economy&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Union Cabinet has approved &#8216;Samudra Manthan&#8217; \u2013 the National Offshore Exploration Scheme with an approved outlay of Rs.84,084 crore for implementation up to FY 2030\u201331.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Offshore Exploration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Offshore exploration is the search for natural resources, primarily crude oil, natural gas and seabed minerals, that lie beneath the ocean floor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It requires complex geological, geophysical and engineering methods to locate and evaluate potential reserves hidden beneath marine waters, before commercial drilling or extraction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f3f5f4\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"647\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-8.png\" alt=\"offshore exploration\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-80577\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f3f5f4; aspect-ratio:2.7889135852360747;width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-8.png 647w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-8-300x108.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 647px) 100vw, 647px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Benefits of Offshore Exploration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Energy Security:<\/strong> Tapping offshore reserves enhances national self-reliance, reducing vulnerability to global geopolitical conflicts, supply chain shocks, and volatile crude prices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Growth<\/strong>: Major offshore projects generate large amounts of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), create jobs requiring high skills, and generate large amounts of government revenues through royalties, taxes, and corporate profits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Great Untapped Potential:<\/strong> Offshore basins harbour large quantities of the world&#8217;s undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves and rare-earth minerals on the seabed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technologica<\/strong>l <strong>advances<\/strong>: Offshore activities stimulate technological advances in subsea engineering, robotics, seismic imaging and maritime logistics, spurring domestic manufacturing and ancillary service sectors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Transition<\/strong>: Offshore natural gas discovery offers a cleaner-burning transition fuel to bridge the gap between heavy fossil fuels and zero-emission renewable energy systems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Financial Risk: <\/strong>Deep water drilling requires multi-billion dollar up-front investments, long lead times, and has a high risk of \u2018dry wells\u2019 in the early stages of exploratory drilling.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technology challenges<\/strong>: High pressure, low temperature and ultra-deep environments require state-of-the-art technology, specialised drilling rigs, and complex subsea architecture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Environmental Risks<\/strong>: Marine ecosystems face threats from seismic surveys, discharges of waste, noise pollution underwater and the very real risk of marine oil spills.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Geopolitical disputes:<\/strong> Offshore basins frequently overlap disputed Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), maritime boundaries and defense-sensitive \u201cno-go\u201d zones.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Energy Transition Dynamics:<\/strong> The global transition to renewables poses long-term demand uncertainty, making private investors hesitant to lock up capital in offshore projects that last decades.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Governments steps&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>&#8216;Samudra Manthan&#8217; Scheme: <\/strong>It is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum &amp; Natural Gas\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is inspired by the vision of unlocking India\u2019s offshore energy potential and aims to strengthen energy security and support the goal of Viksit Bharat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Components\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Acquisition and processing of modern offshore seismic data with an outlay of \u20b928,534 crore;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Drilling of 60 deepwater exploration wells with an allocation of \u20b943,200 crore, including Government support of up to 50% of eligible drilling cost or \u20b9675 crore per well, whichever is lower<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Development of common offshore infrastructure hubs with an outlay of \u20b910,000 crore to facilitate commercialisation of discoveries; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Establishment of Oil and Gas Manufacturing and Services Zones with an outlay of \u20b92,000 crore to promote domestic manufacturing and localisation of critical equipment and services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Objectives<\/strong>:\u00a0 It aims to enhance India\u2019s energy security by unlocking over 600 Million Metric Tons of Oil Equivalent (MMTOE) of offshore reserves, boosting domestic oil and gas output\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It aims to decrease import reliance, generate employment, attract investments, and bolster Make in India via indigenous offshore technologies.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It will build a globally competitive energy ecosystem and aid India\u2019s long-term economic growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Opening Up Offshore Acreage<\/strong>: More than 99% of the earlier &#8220;No-Go&#8221; areas have been removed, making over one million square kilometres of India&#8217;s Exclusive Economic Zone available for exploration for the first time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Modernising the Contractual Regime: <\/strong>India transitioned from Production Sharing Contracts to Revenue Sharing Contracts, simplifying the fiscal framework and improving transparency while reducing administrative intervention.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Legislative Reforms: <\/strong>The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 2025 modernised the legal framework governing the sector by providing contractual stability, recognising integrated petroleum operations, strengthening dispute resolution mechanisms, and establishing a contemporary regulatory architecture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Implementation Through New Rule<\/strong>s: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 2025 operationalised these reforms by promoting ease of doing business, improving regulatory efficiency, and streamlining the administration of petroleum leases.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Uniform Decision-Making Framework<\/strong>: The Government has also standardised the composition and mandate of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries across all contract regimes, ensuring consistency and a level playing field for all operators, irrespective of when their contracts were signed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sharper Focus on Exploration<\/strong>: The performance parameters of ONGC and Oil India have been reoriented to place greater emphasis on exploration activities, reinforcing the Government&#8217;s commitment to expanding India&#8217;s domestic hydrocarbon resource base.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&nbsp;<strong>Conclusion&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Offshore exploration is a strategic pillar of India\u2019s energy security and economic development as it underpins the discovery of domestic resources and reduces dependence on imports.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Samudra Manthan initiative aims to promote exploration-led growth through risk-sharing support and advanced technology and investment incentives for deepwater hydrocarbon exploration in the frontier basins of Krishna-Godavari, Cauvery, Mahanadi and Andaman.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, sustainable development is the reconciliation of resource utilisation with environmental protection and the transition to clean energy.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Innovation, efficient regulation and responsible exploration will enhance India\u2019s energy resilience and help realise the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/cabinet-approves-84084-crore-for-offshore-exploration-scheme-samudra-manthan\/article71291787.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> In News <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Union Cabinet has approved &#8216;Samudra Manthan&#8217; \u2013 the National Offshore Exploration Scheme with an approved outlay of Rs.84,084 crore for implementation up to FY 2030\u201331. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Offshore Exploration <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Offshore exploration is the search for natural resources, primarily crude oil, natural gas and seabed minerals, that lie beneath the ocean floor. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It requires complex geological, geophysical and engineering methods to locate and evaluate potential reserves hidden beneath marine waters, before commercial drilling or extraction. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/01-08-2026\/samudra-manthan-scheme \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80576"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80580,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80576\/revisions\/80580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}