Hardy Oil and Gas Plc of UK has found oil and gas at a Cauvery basin block off the east coast."Drilling has been completed in exploration well Fan-A-1 to a depth of 4089 metre. During drilling, several sand bodies with a high pressure of hydrocarbons were encountered in the Cretaceous section of the well," a company release said here.The company has 75% participating interest and is the operator of CY-OS/2 block, where hydrocarbons were found.Five hydrocarbon zones were identified with potential for production. Of these, three were chosen for production testing, it said.The first zone at 3,755-3,817 meters flowed both gas and oil to the surface. "However, the test had to be aborted prematurely due to mechanical problems in the DST string. The company is considering the option to sidetrack and retest the zone after completing the testing of shallower intervals." The second interval at 3,565-3,569 metres is currently being tested and recorded an initial rate of 10 million standard cubic feet per day of gas with a condensate content of about 20 barrels per mmscf.The company plans to move to the next shallower interval at a depth of 3,333 metres after completing testing at the current interval of 3,565-3,569 metres."Hardy plans to submit a detailed appraisal program for the contract area to the Government as soon as the preliminary review of the test results is completed," it said.Yogeshwar Sharma, managing director of Hardy, said the company would now begin a detailed evaluation of this discovery and the commercial value of the hydrocarbons encountered.
