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Reliance wants five more years



By Upstream staff 

India’s Reliance Industries may get an additional five years to explore for oil and gas in a deep-water block in the Kerala-Konkan basin, according to Indian media reports.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) is considering a request by Reliance for the granting of special R&D exploration status in Block KK-DWN-2001/1 that would extend the time period for meeting the work programme, the Economic Times said.

This comes after a similar request by India's Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was rejected by the upstream regulator.

"RIL is also ready to share the data, knowledge and the end results with other operators and even welcomes a joint pursuit of basin-scale studies with other operators, national institutes and the DGH," Reliance said in its request application.

The regulator has referred it to the petroleum ministry for a final decision, the newspaper report said.

In its application, Reliance said that denying a special status would mean a loss for both the government as well as the company.

"It will be an easy solution for Reliance to complete the minimum work programme and surrender the blocks without positive results - a lose-lose situation for both Reliance and government of India," the company said.

The time window has been sought for five years, effective from 1 January 2007.

Block KK-DWN-2001/1 was awarded to Reliance in 2002 under the second round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp).

The special status would also provide breathing space to Reliance which is facing an acute shortage of deep-water rigs.

"In addition, grant of R&D exploration status circumvents the present predicament of non-availability of deepwater rigs and thus provides an opportunity for an exploration synthesis as requested," the application said.

Reliance has so far not reported any success in finding oil and gas in the block, the report said.


Monday, 11 June, 2007, 01:59 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 11 June, 2007, 03:45 GMT

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