Man who discovered KG-D6 fields for RIL quits the firm

Ravi Narayan Bastia, the man who discovered the gigantic Krishna Godavari basin D6 field for Reliance Industries, has quit the company.

Bastia, who was in 2007 conferred the Padma Shri for finding the energy-hungry nation’s second biggest gas find to date, resigned from RIL last week, industry sources said. In 2002, RIL made a giant natural gas discovery in the very first well it drilled some 200-km off the east coast in the Bay of Bengal, and Bastia is said to be the man behind the success.

When contacted, Bastia, senior vice-president in RIL, confirmed the development, but refused to either give reasons for his move or disclose what he would be doing next. “As of now, I am not joining anyone,” he said.

Subsequent to the Dhirubhai-1 discovery, Reliance made 17 more gas finds in the block KG-D6. Under Bastia — the only person in the group to have been conferred one of the four highest civilian awards — RIL also found oil in the block and made a sizeable discovery in block NEC-25 off the Odisha coast.