New Delhi: India is seeking collaboration on offshore energy technologies with Norwegian firms as it prepares to explore more than 2.5 lakh square kilometres under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round-10, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said.
In a post on X, the minister said the country is looking to develop a full exploration and production (E&P) deepwater technology ecosystem under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“As India plans to explore over 2.5 lakh sq kms in Open Acreage Licensing Policy Round 10 in one of the largest offshore exploration bidding rounds globally, we are trying to develop a full E&P deepwater technology ecosystem in India, under the visionary leadership of PM Narendra Modi,” Puri said on X.
Puri participated in a roundtable with representatives of the Offshore Energy Cluster in Bergen, Norway, to discuss a range of technologies for deep-sea hydrocarbon exploration. The discussions covered well services, subsea operations, testing, maintenance operations, drilling tools, drilling submersible rigs, well completion services, high pressure high temperature wells, drillships, and monitoring technologies.
“In a roundtable with representatives of Offshore Energy Cluster in Bergen, Norway we held invigorating discussions on technologies including well services, subsea operations, testing, maintenance operations, drilling tools, drilling submersible rigs, well completion services, high pressure high temperature wells, drillships, monitoring technologies covering the entire gamut of hydrocarbons exploration, particularly deep sea exploration by the Norwegian energy professionals,” Puri stated.
The meeting was attended by representatives from TechnipFMC, Reach Subsea, DNV Group, Odfjell Drilling, CCB Subsea, Shearwater, Innovasjon Norge, and NORWEP. A representative from Equinor India was also present.
Jostein Dahl Karlsen represented the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Ministry of Energy at the discussions.
The government has been expanding OALP rounds to boost exploration and enhance domestic production of oil and gas, especially from frontier areas and deep-sea basins.