Reliance finds gas off Gujarat

Close on the heels of the discovery of 7 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in deep waters of Krishna Godavari basin, Reliance Industries has struck significant oil and gas reserves in an exploration block off Gujarat.

Reliance struck hydrocarbons in the very first well it drilled in the GK-OSJ/1 block in shallow waters of Gulf of Cambay, senior company officials said in New Delhi.

No assessment of in-place reserves has been done as the reserves are yet to be tested, they said, adding the company would make an announcement on the find in a month's time.

The block is one of the five blocks Reliance Industries acquired from Tullow Oil of UK for just over one million pound.

Sources, however, indicated that gas production from the new find could be close to one million standard cubic metres per day as per the initial assessment.

The block is close to the four hydrocarbon discoveries Scottish explorer Cairn Energy Plc had made, off which Lakshmi gas find has started commercial production. The remaining (Gauri, Ambe and Parvati) are in different phases of development.

Reliance Industries, in consortium with Canadian Niko Resources (RIL 90 per cent, Niko 10 per cent) had last year struck 7 trillion cubic feet of in-place reserves in KG-DWN/98/3 block in deep waters of KG Basin. It has estimated that the field could produce upto 40 million standard cubic metres per day in two and half years' time.

The hydrocarbon finds augurs well with India's quest for attaining oil security. The country is presently 70 per cent import dependent on crude oil and meets just half of the 120 million standard cubic metres per day gas demand.

Sources said Reliance had sought gas reserves in the sixth well it drilled in the KG block, whose testing too would be undertaken shortly.

Reliance would this month start drilling in the Mahanadi basin block, where the governemnt's upstream nodal agency the directorate general of hydrocarbon has predicted the next big hydrocarbon find, they added.