Cairn India notifies second discovery in KG-ONN-2003/1 block

Cairn India has notified a second discovery in KG-ONN-2003/1 block in Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin, on the east coast of India, which it shares with state-owned Oil and Natural gas Corporation (ONGC) on a 49:51 basis. 
  
Cairn Energy India Pty Ltd (CEIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cairn India Ltd (CIL), has notified an oil discovery in the Nagayalanka-SE-1 well in the offshore block KG-ONN-2003/1 to the management committee.

The block is managed by a committee comprising the director general of hydrocarbons (DGH), ONGC and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.

CEIL holds 24 per cent participating interest in the block while Cairn India holds 25-per cent stake in it while ONGC holds the remaining 51 per cent stake.

The Nagayalanka-SE-1 block, a 57-metre-long hydrocarbon column in cretaceous sandstone between the depths of 4,369.2 metres and 4,426 metres yielded 77 barrels of oil and 0.6 mmscf of gas at testing intervals of 4,385 and 4,387 and 4,416 metres and 4,420 metres, Cairn said, adding that further testing is going on and more appraisals would be required to establish the commercial viability of the discovery.

Nagayalanka-SE is the second discovery in the KG-ONN-2003/1 block and the Nagayalanka-SE-1 well is the second successive discovery well in the block by the Cairn-ONGC joint venture.

The Nagayalanka SE-1 well was spud on 25 November 2011 as an exploration well to test the hydrocarbon potential of cretaceous Golapalli sands.

The extended second phase of exploration for the block ends on 7 August 2012 and the minimum work programme committed for the second phase has already been completed, Cairn said. 

Cairn India, which listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 9 January 2007, is now a part of the mining and metals conglomerate Vedanta Resources, plc of the UK, a diversified natural resources group with interests in aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore etc, besides oil and natural gas.