Now Reading: Cabinet approves Rs 84,008 crore Samudra Manthan scheme
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Cabinet approves Rs 84,008 crore Samudra Manthan scheme
The Union Cabinet has approved the Rs 84,008 crore Samudra Manthan scheme for five years to support deepwater oil and gas exploration. It will fund seismic surveys, reimburse up to 50% of…
The Story in Brief
The Union Cabinet has approved the Rs 84,008 crore Samudra Manthan scheme for five years to support deepwater oil and gas exploration. It will fund seismic surveys, reimburse up to 50% of eligible deepwater drilling costs, support 60 exploratory wells and build shared offshore infrastructure. Mint reports that one deepwater exploratory well can cost $125 million to $150 million. The government aims to raise annual domestic hydrocarbon output from about 62 million tonnes of oil equivalent to 80 million tonnes.
The Cabinet also extended PM-Kisan until FY31 with an outlay of Rs 3,15,614 crore. The scheme will continue providing Rs 6,000 a year to eligible farmer families in three instalments, covering about 11 crore beneficiaries. India produces roughly 28 million tonnes of crude oil a year and imports about 90% of its crude needs, according to Mint’s explainer.
The Indian Opinion
The easy story is that a large cheque will quickly cut India’s import bill. That ignores the risks: deepwater wells are costly, discoveries can take 5 to 10 years, and fields decline naturally. The opposite claim, that public support merely wastes money, is also premature because shared infrastructure may reduce costs for private operators. The first hard test is whether 60 wells deliver commercially viable reserves and lift output towards 80 million tonnes of oil equivalent.
Sources (2): livemint.com, livemint.com (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
