“Next year, by now, we should have excellent clarity in terms of our deep water drilling commitment. … we would definitely be undertaking at least 3 to 4 deep water drilling commitments, which will entail mobilisation of drill ships,” Dr Rath told investors.

The management said the deep water push will be backed by a collaboration with TotalEnergies. “We have a collaboration with TotalEnergies … the entire design basin adjunctions for seismic data acquisition and processing and interpretation will have the oversight of Total,” the management said, adding that TotalEnergies holds a “right of first refusal” on prospects identified from current seismic work.

Dr Rath told analysts, “As part of the collaborative framework, there is a right of first refusal, which is available to TotalEnergies. Should there be any prospect identified out of the seismic API that we are doing right now for our deep water block, TotalEnergies will also like to share the cost and share the risk.”

The management was explicit the deep water work will be more costly: “Mobilisation of drill ships… will definitely be at a higher cost,” Rath said, but added the arrangement with global partners is intended to offset cash-flow pressure. “Therefore, we are currently not anticipating any specific issue as far as cash flow or additional contract cost is concerned,” he told investors.

The company also said it is approaching other international and national oil companies to “secure de-risk mechanism” for deep and ultra-deep water exploration — a signal that OIL will seek co-venturers rather than shoulder all exposure alone.