India, Aug. 11 -- On July 31, the Union Cabinet approved the National Offshore Exploration Scheme (Samudra Manthan), a central sector scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with an outlay of Rs.84,084 crore over the next five years. The scheme aims to increase India's petroleum production by unlocking its "vast offshore hydrocarbon potential". Broad components of the scheme are seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation, accelerating offshore exploration, creating common offshore infrastructure and deploying modern technology, and developing and strengthening oil and gas manufacturing and services zones in the country.

These efforts, the government believes, will increase India's hydrocarbon resource base from ...