Abstract In this paper regional values of the oceanic excitation function of polar motion are computed from bottom pressure and oceanic current fields from the ECCO/JPL data-assimilating model kf080 for the period 1993–2009. The influence of different geographic regions of the ocean on the excitation of polar motion is determined by calculating correlations and covariances between these regional excitations and either the global non-atmospheric excitation or the global oceanic excitation. The non-atmospheric excitation is estimated by subtracting the atmospheric signal from the excitation computed from geodetic observations of polar motion; the global oceanic excitation function is equivalent to the sum of the oceanic excitation function computed in every grid point. Our attention focuses on the regional distribution of the oceanic polar motion excitation for two time scales: the seasonal spectral band and the band around the Chandler period. We identified the southern Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean as important regions for non-atmospheric polar motion excitation. The maximum of variability over the southern Indian Ocean is especially important in the case of annual oscillation. The Atlantic Ocean makes less significant contribution to the non-atmospheric polar motion excitation than the Pacific and Indian Ocean in both considered spectral ranges. Inland seas like the Mediterranean and the Sea of Japan have high covariance with the global signals.