With that in mind, the Indian Government has just announced it has mapped over 130 deepwater plays around the southern tip and 80 plays on the east coast of India. In addition, the government is hoping for world class discoveries in the northeast, which possess geographical structures similar to Iran and Saudi Arabia.
"Over 130 deepwater plays have been mapped around the southern tip and 80 around the east cost of India. Many plays have striking similarity to proven play types of Campos Basin, Gulf of Mexico and West Coast of Africa," said the director general of India's petroleum ministry, Dr Avinash Chandra.
In other Indian petroleum news, oil and gas major ONGC has just expanded its portfolio of Middle East assets after being awarded an exploration block in Syria in consortium with US-based exploration company IPR.
The company will be looking to expand this further by teaming up with the National Oil Company of Turkey to acquire two exploration blocks in Libya. ONGC said it intends to initial an agreement by the end of the month.
