Reliance Industries (RIL) has made two natural gas discoveries on the east and west coast adding to the vast hydrocarbon reserves it has found in the past few years.Reliance made its 18th discovery in the prolific KG-D6 block (KG-DWN-98/3) in the Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast, when well KG-D6-R1 encountered two gas-bearing zones, according to a company release issued today.The company is the operator of the block with 90% interest, while Niko Resources of Canada holds the remaining 10%. The block is estimated to hold in-place reserves of around 50 trillion cubic feet and oil reserves of 1 billion barrels.The Mukesh Ambani-run firm plans to begin gas production from first two of the discoveries made in the block, that was awarded in the first round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), in the second half of 2008.Reliance also discovered natural gas and condensate in the block GS-OSN-97/1 off the west coast in Gujarat-Saurashtra basin.GS01-B1 well flowed 18.6 million cubic feet a day of gas together with 415 barrels a day of condensate, the release said.Reliance is the operator of the block with 90% interest, while Hardy Exploration of UK has the remaining 10%.
