New Delhi: The government will pay up to half the cost of risky deepwater exploration wells under its Rs 84,084-crore Samudra Manthan scheme, but expects to be repaid out of revenue if a well finds oil or gas. If it finds nothing, the state absorbs the loss.
That recovery clause, set out in newly issued operational guidelines, is the scheme's central bargain: the government carries early geological risk and keeps a claim on any upside.
