RIL gas estimates almost double

MUMBAI: The reserves for RIL���s D1 and D3 discoveries in the Krishna Godavari basin are now estimated at 11.3 trillion cubic feet, almost double the earlier estimate, the company on Thursday said. The revised reserves will take the production plateau up to 80 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd). The up-stream oil regulator, the directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) has ap-proved the revised development plan for the two fields, the company said. The plan entails one of the largest deep water gas developments in the world.

Incidentally, not all prospects were rosy and during the third quarter of FY 06 RIL also relinquished five blocks that were assessed to be low on hydrocar-bons. However, the discovered blocks are being developed to commence pro-duction of gas by the second half of FY 2008-9, six years after it was first dis-covered. In the D6 block that RIL is still prospecting, the company drilled two wells, which only provided information about the block. It is currently drilling four more development wells. RIL has also made a significant oil find in the D6 block, but no estimates are yet available of the quantity of oil. The company has put in an application for the commerciality of its oil discovery in the MA1 well. It is also drilling an-other well MA2, where oil was found.