Crude oil is an indispensable part of our everyday life as it is used widely in transportation, industrial and manufacturing sectors, agriculture, household and packaging industry. Along with these wide applications, crude oil has powered economies, fuelled industries and transformed modern life extensively. India is currently the largest growing economy of the world with a growth rate around 6 percent. To meet the needs of this rapid growth along with a surge in population growth and increasing demand for crude oil, India is importing nearly 88 percent of its crude oil needs. But today’s Oil and Gas (O&G) sector faces a tough balancing act of meeting global energy demand while improving safety, reducing costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions in order to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This paper explores how the oil and gas industry is constrained by many structural and technological pitfalls and understands the stagnation in the current domestic crude oil production. The paper further examines the multi-dimensional challenges to India’s crude oil production and assesses realistic prospects for increasing domestic output in a sustainable manner.