GSPC discovers 'huge reservoir of gas' in Ankleshwar

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has discovered a "huge reservoir of gas" in an onland exploration block in Ankleshwar, Gujarat.

"The discovery of a huge reservoir of gas at the Ankleshwar 41-S well... Could potentially open a new zone for exploration for us there," a top GSPC official told PTI today.

Production testing of the Ankleshwar 41-S well in Cambay Basin onland block CB-ONN-2003/2 indicates the potential for production of several million cubic feet of natural gas per day. In addition, a negligible quantity of oil also flowed to the surface during production testing of the well.

The discovery has been brought to the notice of the oil and gas exploration (upstream) sector regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), GSPC officials said. GSPC declined to give a preliminary estimate on the reserves held by the gas reservoir until the upstream regulator certified it as a discovery.

GSPC is the operator of the CB-ONN-2003/2 block in a consortium that includes Jubilant Oil & Gas Exploration, GAIL and GeoGlobal Resources of Canada. The block was awarded under the fifth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-V) in July, 2005.

GSPC has a 50 per cent stake in the block, while GAIL has 20 per cent participating interest, Jubilant Capital has 20 per cent and GeoGlobal Resources holds the remaining 10 per cent.

The CB-ONN-2003/2 block is located South of the northern bank of the Narmada River in Gujarat. GSPC drilled eleven exploratory wells in the block before tasting success at the Ankleshwar 41-S well.

If the DGH certifies the find as a 'discovery', it will be GSPC's second major gas exploratory success in the country. It had announced a massive discovery in a shallow water offshore block off the Andhra Pradesh coast, in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, in June, 2005.

The company recently tied up a Rs 3,000 crore term loan from a consortium of 15 banks, led by Bank of Baroda, to finance the development of the KG Basin discovery, christened the Deen Dayal field.

The state-run energy major was scheduled to come out with an estimated Rs 3,000 crore IPO in June this year. However, the IPO was deferred by the company, citing unfavourable market conditions.