India’s big diplomacy amid Iran-America tension! Found a treasure of petrol and diesel inside the house?

The never ending war between America and Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has given sleepless nights to the entire world including India. Amidst this huge threat looming over the supply of crude oil and LPG, India has taken a huge and historic step towards its energy self-sufficiency. The country’s public sector giant ONGC has started drilling its first deep sea exploration well in the Mahanadi Basin of the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Odisha, which is being considered a huge gamechanger for India.

What is ONGC’s ‘Samudra Manthan’ mission?

According to the information given by ONGC, this new campaign has been named ‘Samudra Manthan’ Mission. Under this, the drilling work of this exploration well named ‘MN-DW18-1-HD’ has been started in the Konark exploration area, about 23 nautical miles off the coast of Odisha. After the recent positive signals from Utkal and Konark areas, now there is strong hope that huge reserves of oil and natural gas may be buried in the Mahanadi basin.

There will be less dependence on foreigners and the Hormuz crisis will be resolved.

This important campaign has been launched at a time when due to the continuous tension in the Strait of Hormuz, India is facing a big crisis regarding the supply of petrol, diesel and LPG. India imports most of its crude oil needs from abroad and a large part of it reaches India through this sea route. In such a situation, if the country starts producing oil and gas in sufficient quantity from its own marine areas, then in future our dependence on foreign countries will reduce to a great extent and any such global crisis will not affect the country.

10 lakh square kilometer area opened up due to PM Modi’s masterplan

Let us tell you that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address on 15 August 2025, had laid special emphasis on fully exploiting the offshore hydrocarbon potential of the country, which was not used till now. Under this strong strategy of the government, about 10 lakh square kilometers of offshore area has been completely opened for oil exploration. With this step, the way for exploration in many new oil and gas blocks of the country has become much easier in the coming times.

How much petrol and gas is expected to be received?

According to government data and estimates, India’s eastern and western offshore basins may contain hydrocarbon resources of more than 560 crore tonnes of oil equivalent or 5,600 MMTOE. Apart from this, recent discoveries in Kaveri, Mahanadi and Andaman Basin have further strengthened these possibilities.

ONGC clearly says that this is one of India’s most challenging deep sea exploration missions. Every new oil reserve found here will not only increase the availability of petrol, diesel and LPG in the country, but will also give a new strength to the country’s energy security by reducing India’s huge import bill. This operation is going to prove to be a long-term and strategic masterstroke for the country to deal with global crises like Hormuz.