India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) is preparing a $10 billion offshore drilling program that envisages 87 wells drilled by 2031, according to a report carried by Baird Maritime.

The plan marks one of the largest sustained drilling commitments by the state operator in recent years and signals a push to add offshore production capacity as India works to slow the decline in mature fields and lift domestic output. ONGC did not disclose a well-by-well breakdown by basin in the report, but the company's offshore portfolio is anchored on the Mumbai High complex in the Arabian Sea, along with assets in the Krishna-Godavari and Cauvery basins off the country's east coast.

The program sits alongside ONGC's sanctioned deepwater development in KG-D98/2, the Cluster-3 project in the Krishna-Godavari basin, where the company has already brought production systems online. The new drilling drive points to continued appraisal and infill work across the shelf and deepwater estate rather than a single-field expansion, though ONGC has not yet published a full project-by-project schedule.

At roughly $115 million per well on a straight average, the headline figure covers a mix of exploration, appraisal and development drilling. Offshore well costs vary widely: shallow-water infill wells at Mumbai High typically come in well below that figure, while deepwater wells in the Krishna-Godavari basin run higher. The 87-well count through 2031 implies an average pace of roughly 12-14 wells per year, a tempo that will require ONGC to line up jackup rigs for shelf work and at least one drillship or semisubmersible for the deepwater leg.

The timing matters for the rig market. Indian offshore rig demand has been firming as ONGC and private operators such as Reliance Industries and Oil India expand activity in the Krishna-Godavari and Mumbai Offshore regions. A multi-year tender campaign on this scale would give jackup owners visibility through the end of the decade and could tighten availability across the West Asia-India theater, where day rates for high-spec jackups have already recovered from the 2020-21 trough.

For ONGC, the drilling program is part of a broader production strategy. The company has set targets of raising crude output toward 1 million bpd equivalent territory and has leaned on its flagship deepwater projects, including KG-D98/2 and the recompletion campaign at Mumbai High, to offset declines in older onshore blocks. New wells from the $10 billion program would feed into that effort, though first production from exploration-phase wells would likely arrive after 2030 given typical lead times for offshore facility tie-backs.

The report does not specify whether the $10 billion figure includes associated facility costs — platforms, subsea hardware and pipelines — or drilling and completion spend alone. Analysts covering Indian upstream will watch ONGC's capital budget filings and rig tender awards over the coming quarters for confirmation of the phasing.

The watch items: ONGC's next annual capital expenditure guidance, expected alongside full-year results, and the rig tenders the company issues to underwrite the first tranche of wells. Award pace in those tenders will show whether the 2031 target holds.