BPCL discovers gas in offshore Mozambique

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) today said it has made a second natural gas discovery in a block off Mozambique, but did not give the scale of reserves the finds may hold.

Exploration well Barquentine drilled to about 5,145 meters, encountered "a total of more than 127 net meters of natural gas pay in multiple high quality sands," the company said in an e-mailed press statement.

Previously, well Windjammer had struck natural gas reserves.

US firm Anadarko Petroleum Corp is the operator of the block in Rovuma Basin, Area-1, offshore Mozambique, with 36.5 per cent interest while Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL), a wholly-owned subsidary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, owns 10 per cent.

Videocon Mozambique Rovuma-1 Ltd, a unit of Videocon Industries, has 10 per cent interest, Cove Energy Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Ltd 8.5 per cent and Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area-1 Ltd 20 per cent. The balance 15 per cent is with Empressa Nacional de

Hidrocarbonetos, the national oil company of Mozambique.

"With the Windjammer, and now Barquentine discoveries, a substantial natural gas resources has been identified and the operator has initiated designing an appraisal program that will better delineate the area extent of this large accumulation," the statement said.

BPRL said "once operations are complete at Barquentine discoveries, Anadarko plans to mobilise the Belford Dolphin drillship approximately 25 kilometers to the south to drill the Lagosta exploration well, which also is located in Offshore Area-1 of Rovuma Basin."