India, Aug. 1 -- The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the Rs 84,084-crore "Samudra Manthan" National Offshore Exploration Scheme to partly fund the high cost of finding oil and gas in deepwater areas, drilling exploratory wells and building common infrastructure to bring new discoveries into production.

Under the scheme, the Government will provide support of up to Rs 650 crore for each well drilled in deepsea and ultra-deepsea areas, officials said, as part of efforts to boost domestic oil and gas output and reduce reliance on imports.

More than half of the scheme's total outlay, or Rs 43,200 crore, will be allocated over five years through 2031 to support deepsea drilling, an activity involving high costs and significant geological ri...