India’s state-controlled Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is in talks with leading international players for potential partnerships in deep-water projects, off the country's east and west coasts.

The Indian giant on Tuesday said that with the help of international partners, it aims to “infuse state-of-the-art technologies in its aggressive exploration push in deep waters of India".

ONGC confirmed that it has held discussions with US giant ExxonMobil, Norway’s Equinor and services giant Baker Hughes for likely deep-water partnerships.

Some other leading international energy giants are also likely to be involved, Upstream understands.

Arun Kumar Singh, ONGC chairman, while speaking at the India Energy Week in Bengaluru, said that “the world is now getting balanced, as deep sea investments are becoming economic".

ONGC is spending $5 billion on developing the Cluster 2 region of its flagship KG-DWN-98/2 deep-water asset in the Krishna Godavari basin and has lined up an aggressive deep-water exploration campaign, off the country’s east coast in the near term.

Singh noted that ONGC is investing $ 3.5 billion a year to maintain its production, which involves spending on key exploration and development programmes.

The ONGC chief added that the oil and gas sector needs more investments, despite renewables coming into play.

“The transition to renewables is a reality however oil and gas will remain in focus in the journey,” he stated.