Deepwater

Imagine the difference between digging a well in your backyard versus drilling one from a boat anchored far out at sea, with hundreds of metres of water sitting between the drill and the seabed before the actual drilling into rock even begins. Deepwater exploration is that second, dramatically harder scenario.

In industry usage, deepwater generally refers to offshore drilling in water depths beyond roughly 400 metres, requiring specialised floating rigs, more sophisticated well control equipment, and significantly higher capital costs than shallow water or onshore drilling. The reward for that added complexity is access to large, previously untapped reserves that shallower, more accessible basins have already been extensively explored.

India's more recent OALP rounds have deliberately included a meaningful share of deepwater and ultra deepwater blocks, reflecting the reality that much of the country's easier, shallower acreage has already been explored, and the next wave of discovery is more likely to come from harder to reach water.