Oil India Limited (OIL) is stepping up its push for higher domestic oil and gas production, deep and ultra-deepwater exploration and clean-energy expansion.

 

This, with the company aligning its offshore strategy with the government's newly approved Samudra Manthan – National Offshore Exploration Scheme.

 

Addressing shareholders at OIL's 67th Annual General Meeting, Chairman and Managing Director Ranjit Rath outlined a growth roadmap focused on boosting domestic production, accelerating exploration, expanding the integrated energy value chain and selectively scaling up clean-energy businesses.

 

The company is targeting around 10 MMTOE of oil and gas production by the end of the decade, with higher exploration, drilling and production enhancement expected to drive the increase.

 

OIL produced 3.450 MMT of crude oil and 3.186 BCM of natural gas in FY 2025-26. Despite operating largely mature fields, the company ended the year with a terminal crude oil production rate of 10,566 MTPD, its highest in 14 years, aided by intensified drilling, workover and reservoir-management efforts.

 

The company completed 74 wells during the year, comprising 22 exploratory and 52 development wells. Its Reserve Replacement Ratio also improved to 1.02, strengthening its hydrocarbon reserve base.

 

The production momentum has continued into FY27. In Q1, crude oil output rose 11% year-on-year to 0.950 MMT, while OIL recorded its highest-ever daily crude oil production of 10,921 MT, or 84,109 barrels.

 

Financially, OIL reported a consolidated PAT of Rs. 7,551 crore for FY2025-26, with consolidated net worth reaching Rs. 53,716 crore. The company declared a total dividend of Rs. 11.50 per equity share, while the OIL Group invested more than Rs. 21,673 crore across exploration and production, refining, pipelines and strategic growth projects.

 

OIL's offshore ambitions are expanding rapidly as the company looks to capitalise on the government's Rs. 84,084-crore Samudra Manthan scheme, approved through FY2030-31.

 

The scheme envisages large-scale offshore seismic acquisition, faster deep and ultra-deepwater drilling, common offshore infrastructure and the development of domestic manufacturing and services capabilities.

 

OIL's exploration footprint now exceeds one lakh square kilometres, spanning multiple onshore and offshore sedimentary basins. Its offshore portfolio includes acreage in the Andaman, Krishna-Godavari, Mahanadi and Kerala-Konkan basins, including ultra-deepwater blocks.

 

The Andaman basin has already produced encouraging signs. Sri Vijayapuram-2 established a natural gas occurrence, while Sri Vijayapuram-3 resulted in a gas discovery with continuous flaring, indicating an active petroleum system in the frontier basin.

 

OIL is now strengthening its deep and ultra-deepwater capabilities through advanced seismic evaluation, technology partnerships and preparations for future offshore drilling campaigns.

 

OIL is also expanding beyond upstream exploration, strengthening its position across refining and pipeline infrastructure.