Richa Mishra

New Delhi, Jan. 20 Sensing hydrocarbon prospects in a fresh deepwater block in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Basin, off the east coast, Reliance Industries Ltd plans to start testing for possible oil and gas presence there.

Industry sources said that as the block KG-DWN-2003/1 (KG-V D3) was nearly adjacent to RIL’s prolific D6 block, the company may see good hydrocarbon prospects in it.

“The company plans to start testing for hydrocarbon prospects very soon,” sources said. If the company finds hydrocarbons, then this would be its third deepwater block in KG Basin where it has struck success, sources said.

Hardy Exploration & Production (India) holds a 10 per cent participating interest while RIL is the operator, with 90 per cent interest in the block. RIL, along with Hardy, won the block in the fifth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The block is in exploration phase one, which provides for the drilling of six exploration wells.

RIL has deployed rig C. Kirk Rhein at the block. The company started drilling the first well on December 29 and plans to start modular dynamic testing (MDT). The block size is 3,288 sq km. Technical testing is done only when there are signs of hydrocarbons in the well, industry sources said adding that no company would spend millions of dollars if there was no prospect. The MDT can be undertaken while drilling is on and can be completed in a short span.

However, company sources remained tight-lipped about the whole development. After D4 and D6 deepwater blocks, the company recently announced more discoveries in exploratory shallow-water block KG-OSN-2001/1 (KG-III-5), awarded under NELP III.

RIL, which currently has six drilling rigs, has deployed them in its KG and Mahanadi assets. Three rigs have been deployed in D6 to maintain the schedule of flowing gas from the block, while one each have been deployed in KG-V D3, NEC-25, and KG-III-5, sources said.

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