The Hindu : Business : Reliance strikes gas off TN coast

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Wednesday, Jul 18, 2007
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Reliance strikes gas off TN coast

Special Correspondent

New vistas for exploration in Cauvery deep-water basin

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Tuesday announced a significant oil and gas discovery in its first well in deep waters of the Cauvery Basin, in the East Coast of India.

This is the first time a hydrocarbon discovery has been made in the Cauvery deep-water basin.

“The success of the well CY-III-D5-A1 in the exploration block CY-DWN-2001/2 (CY-III-D5) marks the beginning of a new vistas for exploration in this basin. This well is located in a water depth of 1,185 metres and is drilled to a target depth of 4,081 metres and terminated in the crystalline basement,” P.M.S. Prasad, CEO, Reliance Petroleum, said.

The well encountered a clastic reservoir with gross hydrocarbon column of around 150 metres in Cretaceous section.

The presence of oil and gas with condensate has been confirmed by several tests including Modular Dynamic Tester (MDT) and Drill-Stem Testing (DST).

During DST the well produced 31 million standard cubic feet of gas with 1,200 barrels of condensate per day from the main zone, said Mr. Prasad, adding, “Another zone tested below the main zone produced around 550 barrels of oil per day with one million standard cubic feet of gas.”

Dhirubhai-35

This discovery, namely ‘Dhirubhai-35,’ has been notified to the Government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

The deep-water block CY-DWN-2001/2 (CY-III-D5) located in the Cauvery Basin, with an area of 14,325 sq. km., was awarded to RIL under the bidding round of NELP III. RIL holds a 100 per cent participating interest in this block.

Within a short span of six years as an E&P operator, RIL has discovered hydrocarbons in the four major offshore basins of India, namely, Krishna Godavari, Mahanadi, Saurashtra and now Cauvery basin, with major commercial finds in deep waters.

Mr. Prasad also informed that the world’s largest gas discovery by Reliance in the East Coast (Krishna Godavari) deep water block KGD6 would start production in the second half of 2008.

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