Reliance strikes 8th gas discovery in block NEC–25

RIL had earlier struck six consecutive commercial discoveries in this block

Reliance Industries announced a gas discovery in NEC-OSN 97/2 (NEC-25) block located in the NEC-Mahanadi offshore basin, off the Orissa coast in Bay of Bengal. This shallow water block covering an area of 10,755 sq km in water depths ranging between 20-600 m was awarded under the bidding round of NELP I. RIL holds 90% participating interest (PI) and NIKO (NELPIO) Ltd. holds 10% of PI in the block.
This is the eighth discovery in the block. RIL had earlier struck six consecutive commercial discoveries in this block, for which the development plan has been submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) for approval.The well NEC 25-J1 was drilled with the objective of exploring upper Miocene slope sands in the deeper part of the block. This well was drilled at a water depth of 478 m to the target depth of 2926 m. For the first time in this basin, the well encountered high quality multi-darcy gas bearing reservoir sands in the interval 2484 – 2495.5 m based on the interpretation of the wire-line logs. Subsequently, the presence of gas in the above interval was confirmed by carrying out Modular Dynamic Testing (MDT).
This discovery, named ‘Dhirubhai–40’ has been notified to Government of India and DGH. RIL is currently evaluating the potential commercial interest of the discovery through additional data collection and analysis.This discovery establishes the hydrocarbon potential towards the deeper part of NEC-Mahanadi Basin and opens up more acreage for further hydrocarbon exploration efforts.