Another major gas discovery has been made in India?s most prospective field, the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the east coast in the Bay of Bengal.
The Gujarat government-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has stuck a huge gas find in the KG-22 well in its offshore KG-OSN-2001/3 block.
?Given the huge size of the discovery, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is visiting the well site on Thursday to make a formal announcement,? said a senior company official.
This is the sixth gas discovery by GSPC in its K-G basin block so far. Given the flow of gas, estimated at the rate of 27.3 million cubic feet a day, the discovery is being considered a gigantic one.
Directorate General of Hydrocarbons DG VK Sibal said, ?We have been informed of this new gas discovery in the KG-22 well.
Initial observations show that the flow is good and the reservoir seems very prospective. However, testing is still going on and I will be able to comment on numbers after the testing is complete.?
GSPC MD DJ Pandian said, ?Given our past experience, we are very cautious of giving any numbers on reserves this time. We are only saying it is a very good discovery.?
The KG-OSN-2001/3 block was awarded to GSPC under the Nelp-III round in 2002. GSPC is the operator of this block with 80% participating interest, with the remainder shared by Jubliant Anpro and Geoglobal.
Reliance was the first to strike gas off the Andhra coast in November 2002, estimated at 14 tcf and ONGC announced its find later, with estimated reserves of 4 tcf. As former petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said, ?The Bay of Bengal is emerging as the North Sea of South Asia.?