RIL, BP make 2nd gas discovery in Cauvery block

RIL, BP make 2nd gas discovery in Cauvery blockBillionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its global energy partner BP Plc on Friday announced their second major deep-water gas discovery in the Cauvery Basin off the east coast of India.

The discovery, which has been named Dhirubhai-56 (D-56), was made on August 17 in the Cauvery basin's CY-DWN-201/2 block. Since the day of the discovery, the exploration well has been flowing nearly 1 million standard cu. m. of gas with condensate (oil) per day, which indicates that it is a major discovery.

The two companies said in a joint statement, "Preliminary evaluation of well data and fluid samples indicated presence of gas condensate in the reservoir interval with a gross column of 143 metres."

The Cauvery basin is situated in Tamil Nadu, on the eastern side of peninsular India, along the Coromandal coast and Palk Strait.

It is the second major discovery made in the Cauvery basin's CY-DWN-201/2 block. In the year 2007, the two companies had made the D-35 gas discovery in this block.

While RIL owns 70 per cent stake in the block, it British partner holds the remaining 30 per cent stake. The oil & gas block was awarded to RIL during the third round of the government's New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).