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Reliance finds more gas

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Our Corporate Bureau Mumbai
M-1 is the 11th consecutive successful well drilled in D-6 block of Krishna-Godavari basin.
 
Reliance Industries has discovered the "thickest net pay gas section" in the D-6 block of the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast, and made another gas discovery in the NEC 25 block off the east coast.
 
Calgary-based Niko Resources, in a press statement issued globally yesterday, said the company was "pleased to announce a new major gas discovery in the D-6 block and another in the NEC-25 block off the east coast of India".
 
Although, the company did not elaborate on the reserves, indications were that they would be high.
 
Niko has a 10 per cent interest in both the D-6 and NEC-25 blocks, where Reliance holds the remaining 90 per cent equity and is the designated operator.
 
The exploratory well, called M-1, in the D-6 block "has approximately 155 metres of net pay, making it one of the thickest net pay gas sections encountered in the D-6 block", the release said.
 
It added that the well flowed 23.7 mm cubic feet per day from a six-metre interval at a depth of 2,750 metres. Niko Resources said the estimates were made by Reliance Industries.
 
To put the find in perspective, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produces 32 million standard cubic metres (mmscmd) per day of gas a day from Bassein and 17 mmscmd from Bombay High.
 
M-1 is the 11th consecutive successful well drilled in the 1.9 million acre D-6 block. Drilling has been done in the first 1,800-km 2/3D seismic programme, which covers less than 20 per cent of the block.
 
An additional 2,500 km 2/3D seismic programme is currently being processed and will be merged with the original 3D survey.
 
The D-6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin is estimated to yield a total in-place gas volume of 14 trillion cubic feet. Initially, eight wells were drilled and named Dhirubhai 1-8, after Dhirubhai Ambani, the former promoter of the Reliance group.
 
Reliance has chalked out a plan for producing 40 mmscmd of gas by 2006-2007 from the D-6 block. With a capital expenditure plan of Rs 35,000 crore over a period of five years, the development plan for the D-6 block has already been submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
 
The company has also discovered gas in the A2 well in the NEC-25 block. "The operator estimates the potential net gas pay to be 40 metres," Niko said in its release, adding that plans for gas production in this block were progressing on a fast track.
 
Reliance had announced that it had struck gas off the Orissa coast in the Bay of Bengal on June 24, 2004.
 
At that time, Reliance Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had said: "These discoveries come after earlier operators drilled 61 unsuccessful wells. This, more than the size of the discovery, is a matter of great satisfaction."
 
Ambani had pointed out that "the next two years will see Reliance make intensive efforts in oil and gas exploration and production".

 
 

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First Published: Aug 05 2004 | 12:00 AM IST

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