Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has started drilling the MN-DW18-1-H-D offshore exploration well in the Mahanadi Basin, beginning a deepwater campaign off India’s Odisha coast.
India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, virtually spudded the well from New Delhi on 25 July 2026. The drilling location is approximately 23 nautical miles from Konark.
ONGC described the operation as the start of one of India’s most challenging deepwater exploration campaigns. The company said exploration activity and any resulting discoveries would support domestic production, reduce import dependence and strengthen India’s energy security.
The well forms part of the government’s Samudra Manthan campaign, which covers the exploration of India’s deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon potential.
Recent Utkal and Konark offshore discoveries have strengthened the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Mahanadi Basin, according to ONGC. Exploration results in the Cauvery, Mahanadi and Andaman basins have also reinforced the potential of India’s offshore areas.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi called for the development of the country’s untapped offshore oil and gas potential in August 2025. The government subsequently opened nearly 1 million sq km of previously restricted offshore acreage, creating exploration opportunities through forthcoming Open Acreage Licensing Policy rounds.
India’s eastern and western offshore basins extend to water depths of up to 3,000 m and are estimated to hold more than 5,600 mmtoe of hydrocarbon potential.
In January 2026, ONGC launched its Deepwater Exploration Mission Centre, DeepX, in Mumbai. The centre combines the company’s geoscientific expertise, interpretation capabilities, specialist training and strategic global collaborations under its “One Company, One Data” approach.
