A major gas reserve has been discovered in the Krishna-Godavari basin offshore Andhra Pradesh by Cairn Energy (India) Pvt Ltd marking the first success of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), an official announcement said in New Delhi on Wednesday. It said the initial reserve estimates are in the range of 21-28 billion cubic metre of dry gas. The depth of the water where gas has been discovered in block kg-dwn-98/2 is 1000 metre.
The exploratory well reached a total depth of 2330 metres from sea level and encountered several gas-pay zones below 1870 metres. The gas flow in the well was at a combined stabilised rate of over 2.3 million standard cubic metres per day through 64/64 choke. Cairn energy has found the gas in just about one year's time from the signing of the production sharing contract for the block.
Complimenting cairn energy, Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Ram Naik said the gas find augured well for the seven deep water exploration blocks awarded along the East Coast in NELP-I and eight deep water blocks along the West Coast under NELP-II.
Bureau Report