GAIL (India) Ltd said on Monday that the company has started drilling its first exploratory well in its onshore oil and gas block in the Cambay Basin in western India.
The company is the operator in the CB-ONN-2010/11 block. The block was won by GAIL (India) and its partners in the ninth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) bidding.
“GAIL is the lead operator of the block with 25 per cent participating interest in it. Other partners in the block are Bharat PetroResources Ltd, Engineers India Ltd, Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd and Bharat Forge Infrastructure Ltd,” an official statement from the company said.
“Drilling of target depth of 2,500 meters of this well is scheduled to be completed in 40-45 days followed by testing for another 10-15 days. This will target Cambay Shale and Olpad formations,” the statement added.
GAIL and its partners will drill eight exploratory wells in the initial exploration phase as per the minimum work commitment under the Production Sharing Contract.
“While this phase will continue till March 2017, Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation (API) of 2D and 3D seismic data has already been completed,” the statement added.