OIL Partners With TotalEnergies to Boost Deepsea Oil and Gas Exploration

• OIL signs pact with TotalEnergies for deep and ultra-deepwater exploration
• French major to bring technical expertise for offshore drilling
• Partnership aims to strengthen India’s energy security

Oil India Limited (OIL) has teamed up with French energy major TotalEnergies to ramp up the search for oil and natural gas in India’s deep and ultra-deepwater offshore regions. The partnership, formalized through a technology service agreement signed on November 19, 2025, in New Delhi, will help OIL strengthen its exploration programs across key sedimentary basins.

Under the agreement, TotalEnergies will provide advanced technical support across OIL’s ongoing and upcoming offshore projects. This includes the appraisal of a recently discovered gas find in the shallow offshore areas of the Andaman Basin, as well as exploration efforts in OIL’s ultra-deepwater blocks in the Mahanadi and Krishna-Godavari Basins.

The collaboration also covers joint evaluation of opportunities in current and future bidding rounds and support for drilling stratigraphic wells in Category-II and Category-III offshore basins. According to OIL, the partnership creates a structured framework to leverage TotalEnergies’ global expertise across the deepwater exploration value chain.

OIL recently reported the presence of natural gas in the second exploratory well, Vijayapuram-2, in the Offshore Andaman Block AN-OSHP-2018/1. While early indicators are promising, further testing is required to determine commercial viability. TotalEnergies’ involvement will help assess the potential and guide the next steps.

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Both OIL and ONGC have been actively exploring the Andaman Sea in hopes of a breakthrough that could help reduce India’s heavy import dependence, 88% for crude oil and 50% for natural gas.

OIL said the partnership marks a key step toward unlocking new offshore energy resources and supporting India’s long-term energy security goals.