Oil and Gas Resources
(Source: MOPNG Annual Reports)
India has 26 sedimentary basins covering an area of 3.36 million square kilometres.
The onland sedimentary basins of India have an acreage of about 1.63 million square kilometres;
offshore sedimentary basins, up to the 400 meters isobath have an aerial extent of about 0.41 million square kilometres and
in the deepwater beyond 400 meters isobath, the sedimentary area has been estimated to be about 1.32 million square kilometres
The Indian sedimentary basins have been broadly divided into three categories based on their degree of prospectivity as presently known:
- Category-I: Basins, which have reserves and already producing
- Category-II: Basins, which have contingent resources pending commercial production
- Category-III Basins, which have prospective resources awaiting discovery
Crude oil and Natural Gas production in the country is mainly confined to Category-I sedimentary basins. In addition, significant quantity of petroleum resources has been established in five category -II basins, however production is yet to commence from these basins
The prognosticated conventional hydrocarbon resources in 26 sedimentary basins of the country are of the order of 41.87 billion tonnes (oil and oil equivalent of gas), which is about 49% increase as compared to earlier estimates of 28.08 billion tonnes. The basin-wise details are as under:
Prognosticated resources refer to the estimated quantities of hydrocarbons (such as oil or gas) that are believed to be present in unexplored or partially explored areas, based on geological and geophysical studies. These resources are not yet discovered but are inferred from regional trends, analogies with similar basins, and theoretical knowledge
India has five Exploration & Production (E&P) operating regimes, namely Nomination, Production Sharing Contract (PSC), Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), Discovered Small Fields (DSF), and Coal Bed Methane (CBM) for conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons
As on 01.04.2025, the Operators have reported recoverable (2P+2C) reserves and resources of about 672 MMT of crude oil 1,074 BCM of natural gas at the country level. The reserves and contingent resources status of the country across regimes are as captured in Table below:
The reported contingent resources (2C) at the country level are significantly high and need to be prioritized by new or re-development projects within a defined timeframe
Our section Proved Oil Reserves covers country-wise proved oil reserves and our section Proven Natural Gas Reserves covers country-wise proved gas reserves (Source: OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin). As per that, India’s proved oil reserves were 4,981 million barrels (~5 billion barrels) and gas reserves were 1,145.1 BCM, as at end 2024
The estimated CBM resources are of the order of 2,600 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM) or 91.8 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) spread over in 11 States/regions in the country. The State/region-wise details of CBM resources are as captured in Table below:
