Indian Oil JV discovers oil in Abu Dhabi exploration block

New Delhi, Jan 14 Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Wednesday that in a major development, India’s oil companies have struck oil in an onshore hydrocarbon block in Abu Dhabi.

The discovery was made by Urja Bharat PTE Ltd (UBPL), a 50:50 JV between India’s energy Maharatna Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPCL). The successful discovery of light crude oil in both the Shilaif play (XN 76) and the Habshan reservoir (XN 79 02S) marks an important milestone in Indian Oil’s expanding global upstream journey, the minister said in a post on X.

“We look forward to advancing and unlocking further hydrocarbon potential in the concession,” the minister remarked.

The minister said that the discovery marked “a new milestone in India’s quest towards energy self-sufficiency under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

He further stated that these breakthroughs reflect the dedication and technical excellence of our teams and reinforce our commitment to strengthening India’s energy security through strategic international partnerships.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, India’s energy journey is entering a new era as seven sedimentary basins are under study with advanced technology for the exploration of oil and gas across the country.

Mission Anveshan, one of the largest seismic mapping programmes for oil and gas in India’s history, has been launched, targeting 20,000 ground-line kilometres (GLK) of seismic surveys, of which over 8,000 GLK have already been surveyed.

While 1 million square km offshore area is now open for oilfield exploration, 99 per cent of 'No-Go' areas have been cleared.

The oil and gas blocks being offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) have already garnered attention from global and domestic energy players, and Round X is expected to set new benchmarks for participation and investment.

The minister earlier highlighted that 25 blocks have been marked under OALP-X; 154 exploration blocks are active, while 14 new oil and gas discoveries have been made in the country.

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