India, July 26 -- State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Saturday commenced drilling its first deepwater exploratory well in the Mahanadi offshore basin, marking the start of an ambitious campaign to tap India's deep and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon resources. ONGC spudded exploratory well, MN-DW18-1-H-D under the government's Samudra Manthan mission, the firm said in a statement.

The well is being drilled around 23 nautical miles from the Konark discovery off the Odisha coast, building on ONGC's recent Utkal and Konark discoveries that have strengthened the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Mahanadi Offshore Basin.

The drilling campaign forms part of the push to accelerate exploration of India's offshore oil and gas reserv...