Reliance Industries Ltd said on Wednesday it has discovered natural gas reserves in an exploration block in the Krishna Godavari basin off the country's east coast.
The discovery was made in block KG-DWN-2003/1, lying about 50 km from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, a company statement said.
The block was awarded to Reliance Industries in the fifth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy.
Reliance, which has made several gas discoveries in the region in the past, said that it was evaluating the commercial viability of the find in the block.
The discovery, named Dhirubhai-39, is the first in 3,288 sq.km KG-DWN-2003/1. "The gas discovery has been made in the very first exploratory well in this block," it said.
Reliance Industries holds 90 per cent interest in the block, while Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc has the balance 10 per cent.
The well KG-V-D3-A1 was drilled at a water depth of 716 meters, to a total depth of 1,937 meters, with the objective of exploring Pleistocene deep water fan complex play fairway.
A thick reservoir was encountered with gross hydrocarbon column of around 84 meters in Pleistocene the potential of which was evaluated through wire-line based technology called Modular Dynamic Testing.
Subsequently, the well flowed at a rate of 38.1 million standard cubic feet per day on conventional testing. This play fairway is expected to cover a large area of the block, Reliance said.
The discovery has been notified to the government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. "The potential commercial interest of the discovery is being ascertained through more data gathering and analysis," it said.
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