India’s government cabinet has approved a plan worth $8.81 billion for exploring oil and gas resources in the offshore sector in order to reduce dependence on energy imports. The aim of this plan is to add at least 600 million tons of oil and gas to the country’s proven reserves.

The decision comes in the wake of widespread disruption by the Islamic Republic in the export of oil from neighboring Arab countries through the Strait of Hormuz. Last year, one third of India’s oil imports passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Official figures from India show that, while the country’s daily consumption of oil and petroleum products last year was close to 6 million barrels, only 10 percent of it was produced from domestic fields.

On the other hand, although half of India’s gas consumption is produced from domestic sources, the volume of consumption is very low—around 66 billion cubic meters per year—which indicates that the cleanest fossil energy source has only a six percent share in the country’s final energy consumption. Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of the country’s energy is supplied by the much more polluting fuel coal.