August 11, 2026: Oil India, a Maharatna public sector energy company under India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, expects to meet its 4 million tonne crude oil production target for the financial year 2026-27 (FY27), Chairman and Managing Director Ranjit Rath said, after output rose more than 11% in the past quarter.

Rath said the company plans to drill about 100 wells this year, up from 54 last year, and expects a new pipeline connection to resolve gas evacuation constraints that have held back output. "So, the guidance for 4 million metric tonne looks possible to us," Rath said.

He added that the newly approved Duliajan feeder line, which links Oil India's gas sources to the Northeast gas grid, will help the company meet its 5 billion cubic metre gas production target by 2028: "The evacuation constraint that we were having earlier will ease, and we will be meeting the natural gas targets."

Rath said Oil India is drilling three wells — one in the KG DSF block and one in the Kerala-Konkan basin, which has reached a depth of 5,200 metres against a target of 6,000 metres — and declined to comment on potential write-offs until test results are available.

He said the company's deep-water exploration area under the National Deep-Water Exploration Scheme spans 48,000 square kilometres across the Mahanadi and KG basins, with seismic data acquisition already complete and processing expected to finish by January. Rath confirmed Oil India funded the survey itself: "This is Oil India's cost. This is part of our exploration efforts."

(Source: CNBC)