RIL makes new gas find in first KG block well

Reliance Industries on Wednesday announced that it has discovered natural gas reserves in an exploration block in the Krishna Godavari basin off the country's east coast.

The discovery, named Dhirubhai-39, was made in block KG-DWN-2003/1, lying about 50 km from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. "The gas discovery has been made in the very first exploratory well in this block," stated a release from the company.

Reliance Industries holds 90 per cent interest in the block, while Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc has the balance 10 per cent.

The well, KG-V-D3-A1, was drilled at a water depth of 716 meters, to a total depth of 1,937 meters, with the objective of exploring Pleistocene deep water fan complex play fairway.

A thick reservoir was encountered with gross hydrocarbon column of around 84 meters in Pleistocene, the potential of which was evaluated through the wire-line based technology called Modular Dynamic Testing (MDT).

Subsequently, the well flowed at a rate of 38.1 million standard cubic feet per day on conventional testing. This play fairway is expected to cover a large area of the block.

The discovery has been notified to the government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. "The potential commercial interest of the discovery is being ascertained through more data gathering and analysis," the release added.

The block was awarded to Reliance Industries in the fifth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).