Ahmedabad: The Indian oil and gas sector has never had it so good. Close on the heels of the Reliance Industries-Niko Resources consortium hitting pay dirt by reporting the country’s biggest gas finds off the Vizag coast, Niko Resources, Canada, in a separate find, has reported the discovery of major reserves of gas as well as oil in an offshore block near Surat, Gujarat.

“The New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), announced by the central government some time back, has yielded very good results. Inviting private companies, both Indian and foreign, to hunt for oil and gas has taken the country miles ahead,” say sources in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), which is currently involved in laying a pipeline network for oil and gas transportation.

Niko Resources has major interests in the state of Gujarat, where it works with GSPC in a joint venture. Besides, it has a 10-per cent working interest in the 1.9-million-acre Vizag field (KG-DWN-98/3, Block D6), where Reliance and Niko jointly discovered huge gas reserves. The block was awarded to the Reliance-Niko consortium under NELP’s round-one bidding, with Reliance being the operating partner.

Niko Resources operates primarily in five oil and gas fields located in Gujarat. It also operates in Canada and has minor interests in operations in Bangladesh. The company typically begins operations in an area by reworking existing wells, then expanding its business with exploration and development operations. Niko Resources has proven reserves of 157.0 billion cubic feet of gas and 367,000 barrels of oil, and produces an average of 20 million cubic feet of gas and 29 barrels of oil daily.

The company recently announced that it has received the Indian government’s clearance to proceed with its offshore platform at Hazira and will award the construction contract within two weeks. The third well in its Surat programme did not encounter economic quantities of gas and the rig is moving to the fourth location.

The company received a shot in the arm recently when it resolved its long-standing dispute with its joint venture partner, GSPC, over the ownership rights of the 36-inch gas distribution pipeline between Hazira and Mora. The board of directors of both the companies reached a mutually acceptable agreement, whereby the pipeline was returned to the joint venture company.