The Hindu Business Line : RIL to submit appraisal programme for Cauvery asset soon

New Delhi, March 18 The appraisal programme for Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) deepwater Cauvery asset is likely to be submitted to the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) shortly.

A senior RIL official told Business Line, “we are working on an appraisal programme for the discovery in the asset CY-DWN-2001/2 (CY-D5) and would be submitting it by second half of April.”

An appraisal programme is prepared and submitted by the contractor within a stipulated time frame outlining a work programme and a budget to carry out the work in the block.

The programme is submitted to the block management committee, which comprise the DGH and Government nominee apart from the contractors’ representative.

The appraisal programme enables the committee to review the discovery and assess its commerciality.

RIL has drilled three wells in the block of which it has struck hydrocarbon in one. The company plans to drill couple of more wells in the deepwater area once the deepwater rigs are available. “We have identified the right locations and would re-enter the asset once the rigs are available,” he said.

In October last year, RIL had re-entered the asset to carve out the third well, but without much luck.

The company has struck hydrocarbon in the first well drilled in the block and had to abandon the second well due to a technical snag. The find in the first well showed there were two zones.

In the first zone, as per the initial tests, RIL has found 550 barrels per day of oil and one million cubic feet per day of gas, while in the second zone, it found 31 million cubic feet per day of gas and 1,200 barrels per day of condensate. RIL has already informed the DGH about it. The block is 14,325 sq km in size.

Wild cat blocks

In the Cauvery asset, RIL has no further drilling commitment.

The blocks such as CY-D5 are called ‘wild cat blocks’ where the success ratio is one in 10. Therefore, the company’s strike rate of one in three is not below the international average.

The wild cat blocks are new frontier areas. CY-D5 is a NELP-III block. RIL holds 100 per cent interest in the block.

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