Our Bureau

New Delhi , Sept. 2

THE Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin seems to be yielding results for oil and gas exploration companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). ONGC has said that it has discovered gas in the area (KG 98/2).

When contacted, an ONGC official told Business Line said that estimation of the size of the find and reserves was being done. ONGC had bought the field, KG 98/2, under a swap agreement from Cairn India last year. Cairn still has a 10 per cent stake in the field. ONGC is the operator in the field holding 90 per cent stake.

Earlier this year, ONGC has reported three oil and gas finds — in shallow-waters on the West Coast and in the deep-waters in KG basin on the East Coast.

In 2002, RIL announced that it had found as much as 14 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in the KG basin. GSPC, in July this year, announced that it has made a discovery of natural gas in the area, tipped as the largest gas find. The area is said to have reserves of as much as 20 trillion cubic feet (TCF).

ONGC is currently implementing the development plan for G1 and GS 15 recoveries in the KG basin. Completion is scheduled for April 2006 at an approved cost of Rs 1,262.93 crore, sources said. As of April 1, 2005, 24 fields (7 oil and 17 gas) are on commercial production in the KG onshore and offshore basin. Two of these producing fields fall in the offshore area. In addition to these 24 producing fields, G-1 field is likely to be put on production during 2006-07 after integrated development with GS-15, an ONGC official said.

In addition, RIL have submitted a development plan for two discoveries, namely Dhirubhai-1 and 3 with an investment of $2.47 billion, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has approved the development proposal plan.