
ONGC Spuds First Deepwater Well in Mahanadi Basin under Samudra Manthan Mission
New Delhi: In a significant step towards unlocking India’s deepwater hydrocarbon potential, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri virtually spudded ONGC’s exploratory well, MN-DW18-1-H-D, in the Mahanadi Offshore Basin from New Delhi on 25 July 2026. The spudding marks a major milestone under the Government of India’s Samudra Manthan Campaign and the beginning of an ambitious programme to explore India’s deep and ultra-deepwater energy resources. In his Independence Day address on 15 August 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for harnessing India’s untapped offshore oil and gas







































