Oil discovery by ONGC in Tamil Nadu

State-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has made a crude oil discovery in an exploration block in Tamil Nadu, the company's junior partner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) said today.

Exploratory well 'Madanam-3' produced 115 cubic meters per day of oil and 11,500 cubic meters per day of gas in Cauvery basin block, BPCL said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

ONGC is the operator of the block CY-ONN-2002/2 with 60% interest while Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL), a fully owned subsidiary of BPCL, holds the remaining 40%. The two had won the block in the fourth round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).

The discovery well is situated 14-km south-east of Chidambaram town in Tamil Nadu.

"Compared to earlier lower-productivity basement discoveries, Madanam-3 discovery is a major breakthrough in basement play exploration in Cauvery basin," the company said.