RIL pips ONGC as top producer

Reliance Industries, India's biggest company, confirmed a gas discovery off the country's east coast, potentially becoming the country's largest producer of the fuel.

This is the first discovery in the region by any company, P M S Prasad, president of the Mumbai-based company's oil and gas business, told reporters today. The well drilled in the CY- DWN-2001/2 area of the Cauvery Basin produced 31 million cubic feet of gas and 1,200 barrels of oil a day, he said. The find may help billionaire Chairman Mukesh Ambani overtake Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, India's biggest producer of natural gas, and boost income from selling a fuel that's available in half the quantity needed by the country. Reliance made the world's biggest discovery of 2002 in the adjoining Krishna-Godavari area, from where it's slated to start production next year.

"We are as excited about the discovery as we were about Krishna-Godavari,'' Prasad said. "It's a significant milestone.''

V K Sibal, director general of hydrocarbons, yesterday said his office had been informed of the Cauvery Basin find.

The well was at a water depth of 1,185 meters, Prasad said. The discovery has been named Dhirubhai-35.

India's current gas supply of 85 million cubic meters a day, including imported liquefied natural gas, falls short of the potential demand of 170 million cubic meters, according to estimates by the oil ministry. Gas consumption may rise to 400 million cubic meters a day by 2025 if the economy grows at the projected rate of 7 per cent to 8 per cent a year.

Reliance, run by Dhirubhai Ambani's elder son Mukesh, plans to start producing 80 million cubic meters of gas a day from Krishna-Godavari, north of the Cuavery basin, next year. Reliance is investing $5.2 billion to produce gas at the site.