India’s biggest conglomerate, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries on Tuesday said it has made the first oil discovery in its onland exploratory block in the Cambay basin in Gujarat.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has found oil for the first time in the exploratory block ‘CB-ONN-2003/1.
RIL holds 100 per cent participating interest in the block in the basin, which was awarded under fifth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The block covers 635 square kilometres.
“The discovery, named Dhirubhai-43 has been notified to the Government of India and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. Commerciality of this discovery is being ascertained through more data gathering, it said.
Five wells had been drilled in the area, and the fifth well flowed at a rate of 500 barrels of oil per day (bopd). "This discovery is expected to open future potential within the block," Reliance said.
This is RIL's second oil discovery in India. It earlier struck oil at its D-6 Block in the Krishna-Godavari Basin along with discovery of huge gas reserves.The company has already started commercial production of oil from the D-6 Block.