India poised to hit jackpot in Andaman sea

NEW DELHI: India may be in the verge of hitting the jackpot in the Andaman sea, with state-run explorer Oil India Ltd definitively establishing the presence of natural gas in the basin for the first time.

The presence of gas was reported by found at the Sri Vijayapuram 2 well drilled 17 km from the shoreline on the east coast of the Andaman islands at a water depth of 295 metres and target depth of 2,650 metres.

“An ocean of energy opportunities opens up in the Andaman Sea,” oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a post on ‘X’. Initial production testing of the well in the range of 2212–2250 metres has established the presence of natural gas with intermittent flaring.

Since June, Puri has been holding out hopes of OIL’s Andaman campaign yielding a jumbo-size discovery of the size made in Guyana. The size and commercial viability of the gas struck by OIL are yet to be established before it can be designated as a discovery. Puri said samples brought by ship to Kakinada for testing inidicated 87% methane.

If Puri’s hopes comes true, it will mark the fourth major discovery in the east coast after strikes by Reliance, GSPC and ONGC in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Presence of commercially viable hydrocarbons reserves in the Andaman sea will raise the stake for India in the strategically important sea.

“Establishing the presence of hydrocarbons in the Andaman basin is a major step in confirming our 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.

The development comes as a boost for the National Deepwater Mission announced by prime minister Narendra Modi on August 15. It also validates the string of tieups being pursued by the state-run explorers with global majors such as BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Petrobras.