New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) India has announced ”an ocean of energy opportunities” in the Andaman Sea with the occurrence of natural gas on the east coast of Andaman islands at a depth of 295 meters.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said this occurrence of natural gas will help India in taking forward exploration ambitions in coordination with global deepwater exploration experts and will be a significant milestone in our journey through Amrit Kaal.
”Very happy to report the occurrence of natural gas in Sri Vijayapuram 2 well at a distance of 9.20 NM (17 km) from the shoreline on the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 295 meters and target depth of 2650 meters,” the Minister said on X.
Initial production testing of the well in the range of 2212 – 2250 meters has established the presence of natural gas with intermittent flaring. The gas samples were brought by ship to Kakinada, were tested and found to be 87 percent methane.
The size of the gas pool and commercial viability of the discovery will get verified in the coming months but establishing the presence of hydrocarbons in the Andaman basin is a major step in confirming India’s long held belief that Andaman basin is rich in natural gas, in line with discoveries in the entire area from Myanmar in North to Indonesia in the south in this belt.
Under the deepwater mission announced by Prime Minister narendra Modi on Independence Day, large number of deepwater exploration wells are planned in our offshore basins in order to find new discoveries and fully exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
”This occurrence of natural gas will help us in taking forward our exploration ambitions in coordination with global deepwater exploration experts and will be a significant milestone in our journey through Amrit Kaal,” he said.
