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Ranjit Rath
Ranjit Rath
Chairman & Managing Director, Oil India Limited
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Over Next Three Years Company Expects To Invest ₹15,000 Cr For Deepwater Exploration

📅 Sep 21, 2026 Business Today 8 MIN 1660 VIEWS 12 SEGMENTS · 3 SPEAKERS
At the Annual General meeting, Ranjit Rath, CMD Oil India speaks to Business Today about the company's roadmap in E&P (Exploration & Production), the role it plays in India's Critical Minerals Mission and more..Listen in to this Exclusive conversation with Business Today's Aishwarya Patil. #OilIndia #Investment #RanjitRath #BusinessToday #ExplorationAndProduction #CriticalMinerals #EnergySector #IndiaEnergy #AnnualGeneralMeeting #ExclusiveInterview #NumaligarhRefinery #DeepwaterExploration ----------------------- Thank You for watching! Do not forget to Like | Comment | Share -------------...

What Ranjit Rath said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Ranjit Rath, Chairman & Managing Director of Oil India, discussed the company's upstream and downstream plans. He stated Oil India expects to produce 4 million metric tons of crude oil this year and recently received authorization for the Duliajan feeder line to connect gas fields to the national grid, enabling evacuation of 5 million standard cubic meters per day, aiming for 5 BCM of natural gas in 18 months. On downstream, Numaligarh refinery capacity is tripling to 9 million metric tons; the Paradip pipeline (1635 km) is near completion, with full commissioning targeted by March 31, 2027. Rath highlighted a deepwater discovery in Andaman Nicobar, planned appraisal wells, and a ₹15,000 crore corpus for deepwater drilling aligned with India's Samudra Manthan initiative. He added exploration in Cambay Basin and Kerala-Konkan, plus green energy pursuits like 25 compressed biogas plants and an MOU with Delhi, and standalone capex of about ₹10,000 crore. He noted no direct impact from geopolitical tensions. Rath emphasized core hydrocarbon focus with diversification into critical minerals and renewables, targeting 1 gigawatt.

Key takeaways

  1. Oil India expects standalone exploration, production, and development capex of about ₹10,000 crore going forward.
  2. Deepwater exploration will involve 4 plus 4 wells, backed by a ₹15,000 crore corpus and government support of 675 crore per well under Samudra Manthan.
  3. Numaligarh refinery capacity is tripling to 9 million metric tons, with all units commissioned by March 31, 2027.
  4. The Duliajan feeder line will enable evacuation of 5 million standard cubic meters per day, leading to 5 BCM natural gas production in 18 months.
  5. Renewable energy is targeted to grow from 188 megawatts to about 1 gigawatt.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
4 million metric tons Crude oil production target for this year guidance 0:38
5 million standard cubic meter per day Gas evacuation capacity via Duliajan feeder line metric 0:38
8 million standard cubic meter per day Current gas production level metric 0:38
5 BCM Target natural gas production in 18 months guidance 0:38
9 million metric tons Numaligarh refinery capacity after expansion metric 1:29
1635 km Length of Paradip to Numaligarh pipeline metric 1:29
1590 km Pipeline length already lowered metric 1:29
31 March 2027 Target date to commission all refinery units timeline 1:29
₹15,000 crore Corpus for deepwater well drilling commitment 2:23
675 crore per well Government of India sponsorship under Samudra Manthan commitment 2:23

Chapters

  1. 0:00Crude and gas production outlook
  2. 1:29Numaligarh refinery expansion
  3. 2:23Deepwater exploration and Samudra Manthan
  4. 3:30Pan India exploration and green energy
  5. 4:36Compressed biogas plants and MOUs
  6. 5:18Capex guidance and geopolitical impact
  7. 7:13Future business model and diversification

Questions asked in this interview

2
  1. 5:33So, for that the pipeline of course is being done but as an oil and gas company, any impact of the geopolitical tensions right now that you are seeing for the company?
  2. 6:40So what is the business model going to look like in the next couple of years?
Interviewer 0:00 ↗
Hello and welcome. You are watching Business Today. We have been joined from the Oil India AGM. The Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Ranjit Rath is joining us here. Sir, thank you very much for speaking to Business Today. First off, just a summary of what all we have discussed here on the sidelines of the AGM as well. Both the upstream and the downstream side, if you could give us a forecast of what we should look ahead from here. A lot has been done on the subsidiary side also and the pipelines that you mentioned in the North East as well as Capex. So if you could sum up all of that and give us a sense of what to look forward from here.
Ranjit Rath 0:38 ↗
Okay. First of all, thank you very much for visiting us today. It's always a pleasure talking to you. As far as Oil India is concerned, we will continue to focus on exploration and production. We are looking at this year about 4 million metric tons production of crude oil. You talked about the pipeline in North East. We recently got an authorization of the Duliajan feeder line which will connect the gas fields of Oil India Limited to the North East gas grid and in turn to the national gas grid. That will help us to evacuate about 5 million standard cubic meter per day. So, currently we are doing about 8 million standard cubic meter per day. So that way, 18 months down the line because that's the time the pipeline would take to be constructed and built, 18 months down the line we are looking at a number of about 5 BCM of natural gas production.
As far as downstream is concerned, Numaligarh refinery is getting its capacity tripled from 3 million tons to 9 million metric tons. The first crude oil gain happened on 31st December 2025 and as we speak, the pre-commissioning and commissioning of various units are underway. The pipeline which is 1635 km which is being built from Paradip to move the crude oil, imported crude oil to Numaligarh is near completion. About 1590 km is already lowered. The balance parts, that's RPTU balance unit, that's RPTU and PFCC units, we intend to commission everything by 31st March 2027. So by after that we will have about stabilization of about 9 to 12 months.
As far as Oil India's exploration effort is concerned, we recently got a discovery in Andaman Nicobar. We are currently working out the appraisal process of that particular block and we intend to do two on-appraisal wells as well. We have completed the 2D and 3D seismic of our deep water and ultra deep water block which we had secured in OLP. Processing is underway right now basis our initial estimates, the petroleum system modeling studies that we have done. We envisage about 4 plus 4 deep water wells to be drilled, for which we have created a corpus of about 15,000 crore. And this is well aligned with the flagship initiative of Government of India, that is the Samudra Manthan initiative where Government of India is going to sponsor up to 675 crore per well cost. So it augurs well for an enhanced exploration coverage for the deep water and ultra deep water area.
However, in addition to this, Oil India will also continue to undertake exploration activities pan India. Recently we have kick-started one more exploratory well in Cambay Basin for the first time in the country for Oil India Limited. And we are just as we speak drilling beyond 6000 meters in one of our wells located off the coast of Kerala Konkan which will be one of the flagship initiatives for Oil India Limited. As far as the green energy or the green portfolio we were talking about, we have already got a subsidiary called Oil India Green Energy Limited. While we are working out the solar and wind energy portfolio, we are pursuing about 25 compressed biogas plants which is well aligned to the gas-based economy of the country. This is very well aligned with the Govardhan Mission or the Bioenergy Mission of the Government which is going to sponsor or provide an offtake assurance and also last mile connectivity to the national gas grid.
We have already identified about eight of them such plants in Assam. Five of them in Assam. Two plants, one in Bhubaneswar and one in Tinsukia are in advanced stage of construction. Recently we had signed an MOU with Municipal Corporation of Delhi for two such plants for Delhi where we would actually process 800 tons per day of municipal solid waste. And we have recently signed an MOU with Government of Haryana for four such plants, one for Gurugram, one for Faridabad, one for Hisar and one for Ambala Kurukshetra. So that's the overall portfolio of Oil India Limited.
To answer your question on Capex. As far as our exploration, production and development Capex is concerned, we look forward to a number of about 10,000 crore at a standalone basis. So going forward that will be the nature of Capex.
Interviewer 5:33 ↗
Looking at the geopolitical tension right now still ongoing. You did mention a concern about importing LNG which is expensive from the West Coast as well and overall operation. So, for that the pipeline of course is being done but as an oil and gas company, any impact of the geopolitical tensions right now that you are seeing for the company?

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Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Rath, R. (2026, September 21). Over Next Three Years Company Expects To Invest ₹15,000 Cr For Deepwater Exploration [Interview transcript]. Business Today. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2932705/

MLA

Ranjit Rath. "Over Next Three Years Company Expects To Invest ₹15,000 Cr For Deepwater Exploration." Business Today, 21 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2932705/.

BibTeX 
@misc{rath2026_2932705,
  author       = {Ranjit Rath},
  title        = {Over Next Three Years Company Expects To Invest ₹15,000 Cr For Deepwater Exploration},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Business Today. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {sep},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2932705/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}