ONGC gas find may swell

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has located huge gas reserves in the Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

Company executives said the total size of the find would be known only after final testing though it was expected to be in the range of 5-6 trillion cubic feet.

The gas structure, adjacent to the Reliance discovery, was found below 2100 metres from the sea level. A 24-metre thick sand layer was found mixed with clay, which is considered an indication for discovery of gas.

"The entire zone is very prospective," said an executive adding that drillship Discoverer Seven struck gas reserves at well G1-12 in a block that was given to ONGC on nomination basis prior to the New Exploration Licensing Policy.

"The well is under testing and we expect results in a week's time," the executive said.The G1-12 was drilled to a depth of 552 metres and it reached its targeted depth last month.

"We were targeting the Godavari clays within the Pliocene era sediments," the executive said. The G1-12 lies 15 km south of the discovered G1 field and has "excellent" channel bodies.

ONGC's Sagar Vijay drillship had, in December, found gas reserves in a block in the vicinity of G1-12 well. Sagar Vijay's struck seven to eight zones in its third well (G-4-3). The well flowed 400,000 cubic metres per day of gas during testing.