Reliance Industries Ltd., Mumbai, gauged three discoveries with a combined 1 tcf of recoverable gas on the Bengal basin shelf in northeastern India.
The discoveries are 80 km offshore in 64-84 m of water in the Bay of Bengal on 3.5 million acre Block NEC-25 in the southwestern part of the basin, said 10% partner Niko Resources Ltd., Calgary. Reliance, the operator, estimated gas in place at 4-5 tcf, Niko said.
No geological or depth details were released, but Niko said 3D and 2D seismic data helped identify several rollover anticlines at the Miocene level on the block 200 km south-southwest of Calcutta.
The structures are smaller than those on block D6 in the Krishna-Godavari basin 800 km to the southwest, where Reliance and Niko tested the Dhirubhai and other gas discoveries in 2003, Niko said.
