November 10, 2026: India is seeking deeper collaboration with international energy companies and aims to attract greater foreign direct investment across its oil and gas sector as it advances policy reforms to make the industry more investor-friendly, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal said Nov. 3.

Speaking at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), Mittal said India is seeking partnerships across the upstream, midstream and downstream segments and aims to establish itself as a global manufacturing base for the oil and gas industry.

“We are here to collaborate and forge linkages with multinational companies, invite them to India and make India the destination for global manufacturing for the oil and gas sector. We hope that we will be able to attract a significant amount of foreign direct investment into the space,” Mittal, who is attending the conference, said in a video message.

Indian delegates attending ADIPEC said New Delhi is courting foreign investors amid policy reforms aimed at expanding domestic exploration, strengthening energy infrastructure and encouraging greater private and foreign investment in the sector.

Mittal said Samudra Manthan, the program focused on deep-water and ultra-deepwater exploration, was designed to expand exploration in technically challenging offshore areas while reducing the financial risks associated with high-cost drilling.

“This is a very unique program because India is offering almost 50% government support to de-risk deep-water drilling costs,” Mittal said.

The federal Cabinet approved investments of up to 840 billion Indian rupees ($8.8 billion) over five years in late July to advance offshore oil and gas exploration under the National Offshore Exploration Scheme. The initiative is expected to help add more than 600 million metric tons of oil equivalent to India’s reserves by fiscal year 2030-31 (April-March), the Petroleum Ministry said July 31.

The government will fund up to 50% of eligible deep-water exploration drilling costs, capped at $71 million per well. By partially covering these costs, the scheme could significantly improve the economics of frontier exploration.

(Source: CSN)