Extension of Mission Anveshan: Boosting India’s Energy Security

The Government of India plans to expand its Mission Anveshan initiative for conducting seismic surveys to identify new oil and gas deposits in order to boost energy security. The government launched Mission Anveshan during fiscal year 2025 for a 2026 deadline although the timeframe may stretch to 2027 to enhance exploration of new hydrocarbon deposits. The government started Mission Anveshan together with other such programs that aim to decrease oil imports through increasing domestic oil and gas research activities. The main objective of this mission concerns mineral reserve exploration within sedimentary basins by implementing state-of-the-art seismic surveying systems to enhance exploration precision.

Context:

• Energy security in India improves through Mission Anveshan and identifying new hydrocarbon discoveries.

• Through its incentive scheme the program encourages state-controlled oil enterprises ONGC and Oil India Ltd to execute seismic surveys that produce data about oil and gas reservoirs.

• The main target areas within this exploration program are sedimentary basins because they exhibit notable hydrocarbon reserves.

Key Points:

Objectives of Mission Anveshan:

• A central government initiative launched during FY 2025 aims to increase India’s energy security through planned incentives for seismic survey operations that focus on identifying oil and gas locations. 

• The program collects 2D seismic information along 20,275 line-kilometers from seven onshore sedimentary basins through its data acquisition activities.

  • Ganga-Punjab

  • Rajasthan

  • Saurashtra

  • Deccan Syncline

  • Cuddapah

  • Krishna-Godavari

  • Chhattisgarh

Key Features:

• Budget: ₹720 crore over FY 2025 and 2026

• Stakeholders: The stakeholders involved in this project are Oil India Ltd together with ONGC.

• Technological Shift: Increasing focus on 3D seismic surveys for more accurate exploration

Progress:

• The seismic operations of Oil India reached 1683 line kilometers within Ganga-Punjab and Rajasthan territories.

• The ongoing work in Cuddapah continues as ONGC faces obstacles because of legal proceedings.

• Critical due to India's 85% dependence on imported energy

• The duration of this program may extend up to FY 2027 because of rising demand and unfinished targets.

Future Prospects:

• Over the next few years India is projected to lead global energy demand growth since they will contribute 25% to total global increases.

• The governmental initiative to find India's unrealized energy resources worth 42 billion tonnes of oil and gas equivalent serves as an essential method for handling the nation's expanding energy needs.

Conclusion:

The expansion of Mission Anveshan positions itself as a major stride to boost energy security for India. The government directs its energy independence efforts through seismic survey initiatives which use advanced technology like 3D surveys. Through this initiative the country will achieve higher self-sustainability in energy while making it possible to extract currently untapped hydrocarbon reserves. The required efforts will need to remain consistent because India faces rapid growth in its energy use during the next few decades.