Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said yesterday that the natural gas find was made 10 days ago and could prove to be the sub-continent’s largest yet.
Modi said the discovery - in the KG-8 block off the Yanam-Kakinada coast of Andhra Pradesh – could almost double India’s current gas production and that the government’s priority would be to start commercial production as soon as possible.
He said commercial production was expected to begin by 2007 and that the new discovery was expected to significantly ease the country's gas shortages. India currently produces less than half the gas it needs.
The joint venture responsible for the gas find was operator GSPC, which is owned by the Gujarat state government, (80% equity), fellow Indian company Jubilant Enpro and Canada's Geoglobal Resources (10% each).
Modi dedicated the project, now named “Deen Dayal” (god and saviour of the poor), to the nation and said money generated from the project would be put into education of children living below the poverty line.
A 14tcf gas find in the same basin by India’s privately-owned Reliance Energy had been the country’s previous largest gas reserve.
