Reliance strikes gas in KG basin off Andhra coast

Mumbai: Reliance Industries has discovered natural gas reserves in an exploration block in the Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast. The discovery was made in block KG-DWN-2003/1, off 50 km from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, a company release said.

The block, awarded to Reliance Industries in the fifth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), covers an area of 3,288 sq km.

RIL holds 90 per cent participating interest while Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc holds balance 10 per cent in the block.

Reliance said it was evaluating the commercial viability of the find in the block. The discovery, named Dhirubhai-39, is the first in the KG-DWN-2003/1.

"The gas discovery has been made in the very first exploratory well in this block,'' the release said.

"The well KG-V-D3-A1 was drilled at a water depth of 716 metres, to a total depth of 1,937 metres, with the objective of exploring Pliestocene deep water fan complex play fairway. A thick reservoir was encountered with gross hydrocarbon column of around 84 meters in Pliestocene the potential of which was evaluated through wire-line based technology called Modular Dynamic Testing (MDT). Subsequently the well flowed at a rate of 38.1 mmscfd on conventional testing. This play fairway is expected to cover a large area of the block. The potential commercial interest of the discovery is being ascertained through more data gathering and analysis," RIL said in the release issued to the Bombay stock Exchange (BSE).

"This discovery validates RIL's understanding of the petroleum system in this block. Based on interpretation of the first phase seismic campaign covering about 65 per cent of the block area, several more prospects with potential upside have been identified along the same play fairway as well as other play fairways at different stratigraphic levels," it added.