Vedanta strikes oil in Krishna-Godavari basin
28 Mar 2019
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Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Limited on Wednesday said it has made an oil discovery in Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast.
Vedanta's oil and gas operations comprise the offshore assets of Cairn India, which is India's largest private sector crude oil producer. Vedanta Ltd holds 100 per cent participating interest in the block.
"Vedanta Limited has notified the Management Committee, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and ministry of petroleum and natural gas of an oil discovery in the second exploratory well H2 located in the block KG-OSN-2009/3, Krishna-Godavari basin, East Coast of India," according to a company statement.
Multiple reservoir zones were encountered in the well H2 within the Mesozoic sequence between the depths of 3,310 metres to 4,026 metres with hydrocarbon indications during drilling and downhole logging, it said.
"The zone from 3,403 metres to 3,431 metres was tested through conventional well testing (drill stem test) and flowed oil to the surface. Further appraisal will be required to establish the size and commerciality of the oil discovery in the Mesozoic sequence," said the statement.
The first exploration well A3-2 drilled in the block was a gas discovery. Evaluations are ongoing based on the results of the first well A3-2 and the second well H2 to finalise the forward programme, said Vedanta.
Cairn Oil & Gas, a vertical of Vedanta Limited, contributed about 25 per cent to India's domestic crude oil production in FY 2017-18.
Cairn Oil & Gas is the largest private crude oil producer in India. With a portfolio of 6 blocks, of which 5 blocks are in India and one in South Africa, Cairn has made over 50 hydrocarbon discoveries in the last decade and operates the Mangala field in Rajasthan, the largest producing onshore oil field in the Indian private sector.
Discovered in January 2004, Mangala is the largest onshore oil discovery in India in more than a decade. Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields, the three major discoveries in the Rajasthan block, together have gross hydrocarbons in place of about 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Oil and gas are currently being produced from Rajasthan, Ravva in Andhra Pradesh and Cambay in Gujarat.
