The Hindu Business Line : Reliance makes another find at K-G basin

The MA-2 well has encountered the thickest hydrocarbon column discovered to date in D-6, said Reliance's partner Niko Resources on its Web site last Friday. Reserves of gas and oil have been found. Reliance and Niko are 90:10 consortium partners for exploration in that block.

Output in 2008

Production will start in mid-2008, said Niko.

Application has been made for the commerciality of the MA field and approval is expected in the near future, said Niko. "The full field development plan will be submitted after approval of the commerciality and the oil development is to be fast tracked with initial production targeted in the second quarter of 2008."

Dhirubhai field

An addendum to the field development plan for the Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas fields has been approved and provides for the gas production rate to be increased to 2.8 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas per day with a corresponding phase-I field development costs of $5.2 billion.

Since the approval of the initial development plan of Dhirubhai 1 and 3 in November 2004, substantial additional work has been done to assess the overall hydrocarbon potential of the D6 block, in general, and in the development area for Dhirubhai 1 and 3 discoveries.

This work included the acquisition of an additional 7,600 sq. km of 3-D seismic, drilling and testing of additional exploratory wells, drilling and extensive coring of two development wells in the development area, along with various detailed technical studies by international consultants. As a result, the hydrocarbon potential has increased significantly, said Niko.