Shirish Nadkarni
OGJ Correspondent
MUMBAI, July 23 -- Essar Oil Ltd. struck oil in its Mehsana onshore production block CB-ON-3 in Gujarat, its second find this year after its strike in March.
The in-place reserves of the first discovery were estimated at 18 million bbl of oil equivalent, with recoverable reserves in the range of 2.8 million boe. Essar has been producing around 500 b/d of oil from the March discovery.
The discovery, announced July 12, is touted by company officials to be of the same magnitude. It's expected to yield 300-400 b/d once the company drills 6-7 prospects in the vicinity of the current well in the 500 sq km block.
"We have discovered oil in the well ENM-1, in the Mehsana exploration block, using the heater treater technology," said a senior Essar Oil executive. The crude is heavy in consistency, unlike the medium-quality oil produced from the first discovery.
The CB-ON-3 block in the Cambay basin was awarded to Essar in 1998. Essar is operator with 70% equity; Oil & Natural Gas Corp. has the remaining 30%.
