New Delhi: Oil India Limited's (OIL) Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Dr Ranjit Rath told investors on its Q3 FY26 earnings call that it expects “at least three-to-four deepwater drilling commitments, which will entail mobilisation of drill ships.” The OIL CMD said those campaigns will be supported by international partners to share cost and technical risk.
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“Next year, by now, we should have excellent clarity in terms of our deepwater drilling commitment. … we would definitely be undertaking at least 3 to 4 deepwater drilling commitments, which will entail mobilisation of drill ships,” Dr Rath told investors.
The management said the deepwater push will be backed by a collaboration with TotalEnergies. “We have a collaboration with TotalEnergies … the entire design basin adjunctions for seismic data acquisition and processing and interpretation will have the oversight of Total,” the management said, adding that TotalEnergies holds a “right of first refusal” on prospects identified from current seismic work.
Dr Rath told analysts, “As part of the collaborative framework, there is a right of first refusal, which is available to TotalEnergies. Should there be any prospect identified out of the seismic API that we are doing right now for our deepwater block, TotalEnergies will also like to share the cost and share the risk.”
The management said the company already holds substantial deepwater acreage — around 50,000 sq km of its 100,000 sq km portfolio covers shallow/deep/ultra-deepwater — and has completed large-scale seismic programmes in Mahanadi and Krishna–Godavari areas. “In May 2025, we got the deepwater blocks — 40,000 square kilometre in 4 blocks Mahanadi and KG basin. As part of our exploration effort, we have already completed 4,200-line kilometres of 2D seismic and 50 percent of 3D seismic that is 5,300 square kilometre,” the CMD said on the call.
The management framed the push as part of a broader acceleration in activity: Oil India is drilling deeper wells onshore (targets rising from ~4,000m to 5,500m-plus), expanding seismic coverage and intends to lift its drilling count (from over 75 wells in FY26 to 100 wells next year). “We are deploying semi submersible rigs and jack-up rigs… next year, by now, we should have excellent clarity in terms of our deepwater drilling commitment,” the chairman said.
The management was explicit the deepwater work will be more costly: “Mobilisation of drill ships… will definitely be at a higher cost,” Rath said, but added the arrangement with global partners is intended to offset cash-flow pressure. “Therefore, we are currently not anticipating any specific issue as far as cash flow or additional contract cost is concerned,” he told investors.
The company also said it is approaching other international and national oil companies to “secure de-risk mechanism” for deep and ultra-deepwater exploration — a signal that OIL will seek co-venturers rather than shoulder all exposure alone.
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Deepwater activity represents a material strategic shift for a company long focused on onshore basins and mature field recovery — it opens the door to larger resources but carries higher cost and execution risk.
Partnering with established oil and gas majors reduces technical and financial tail-risk and signals OIL’s intent to act as a teamed participant in higher-complexity projects.