Reliance Industries Ltd has announced a “significant” gas and condensate discovery in the KG-D6 block, off the eastern coast. It is seen as one of the biggest gas discoveries. This discovery is expected to add to the hydrocarbon resources in the KG-D6 block. “The discovery follows an 18-month drilling time-out and detailed geoscience work that has re-focused our India exploration programme and delivered this early success,” said Mike Daly, executive vice-president exploration, BP. RIL did not give any reserve estimate for the new discovery but said appraisal would now commence to better define the scale and quality of the field. “We will embark on this programme in the next few months to evaluate the options for developing this discovery,” said P.M.S. Prasad, Executive Director, RIL. RIL has 97,285 cubic metres of gas reserves, with the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) gas fields being the largest among the 18 finds on the KG-D6 block. However, the reservoir has seen a sharp drop in pressure and water and sand ingress in production wells. According to official figures, the gas availability from KG-D6 has reduced to around 15 million standard cubic metres a day. RIL has been pitching with the government for a rise in the price of gas from the field. The price has been frozen at $4.2 per million British thermal unit till March 31, 2014.
