Ultra Deepwater

Take the difficulty of deepwater drilling and push it further still, past roughly 1,500 metres of water depth, and you enter ultra deepwater territory, among the most technically demanding and capital intensive environments in the entire oil and gas industry.

At these depths, extreme pressure, freezing temperatures and the sheer engineering challenge of controlling a well so far below the surface mean only a small number of specialised operators globally are equipped to drill there at all. OALP Round IX, awarded in April 2025, included 12 ultra deepwater blocks among its 28 total blocks, a clear signal that India's exploration frontier is deliberately pushing into this harder, higher potential territory.

Ultra deepwater blocks typically carry the highest risk and the longest timeline to first production of any category India auctions, but they also represent some of the largest untapped reserve potential left in Indian waters, particularly in basins like the Krishna Godavari and the emerging Andaman offshore area.