India is witnessing renewed momentum in oil and gas exploration, especially offshore, as it aims to tap vast untapped hydrocarbon reserves. In a written reply to a starred question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri highlighted that nearly one million square kilometres of previously restricted offshore areas were opened in 2022, unlocking key deepwater frontiers such as the Andaman-Nicobar (AN) basin.Since 2015, 172 hydrocarbon discoveries have been reported by Exploration and Production (E&P) companies, including 62 offshore. The AN basin, geologically situated at the junction of the Indian and Burmese tectonic plates within the Bengal-Arakan sedimentary system, holds significant potential due to its complex stratigraphic traps and proximity to proven systems in Myanmar and North Sumatra. Interest in this region has surged following major gas finds in South Andaman offshore Indonesia.Minister Puri noted that alongside favourable geology, the real shift has come from strategic policy changes. Aggressive seismic data acquisition, stratigraphic and exploratory drilling, and heightened international collaboration have characterised the new exploration regime. National Oil Companies have planned four stratigraphic wells offshore, one of which is located in the AN basin. These wells aim to validate petroleum systems and de-risk future exploration.ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) have launched an ambitious campaign in the Andaman ultra-deepwater, targeting drilling depths of up to 5,000 metres. The ANDW-7 well in the East Andaman Back Arc has revealed signs of an active thermogenic petroleum system—light crude, condensate traces, heavy hydrocarbons like C-5 neo-pentane, and reservoir-quality facies. These insights confirm, for the first time, the presence of a working hydrocarbon system in the area.To date, ONGC has discovered hydrocarbons in 20 blocks, with an estimated 75 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE), while OIL has made seven discoveries with estimated reserves of 9.8 million barrels of oil and 2,706.3 million standard cubic metres of gas.A Hydrocarbon Resource Assessment Study in 2017 estimated the AN basin’s potential at 371 MMTOE. Complementing this, a 2D seismic survey covering 80,000 Line Kilometres (LKM) of India’s Exclusive Economic Zone, including the AN offshore region, was completed in 2024. Additionally, OIL gathered 22,555 LKM of seismic data during the 2021–22 Deep Andaman Offshore Survey. This data has revealed promising structures now being tested through ongoing drilling.The Minister attributed the progress to policy reforms introduced since 2014: the shift from Production Sharing to Revenue Sharing Contracts in 2015, the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) in 2016, the establishment of the National Data Repository, and the 2022 deregulation of crude oil marketing. These measures have cultivated an investor-friendly environment, incentivising frontier exploration and robust data acquisition.These cumulative efforts mark a significant step toward enhancing India’s energy self-sufficiency through scientific and risk-informed deepwater hydrocarbon exploration.