India’s state-controlled Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has announced an oil and gas discovery North of its prolific Mukta field in the Mumbai offshore basin.

The Indian giant, while announcing its results for the third financial quarter, said it has made an oil and gas discovery in exploratory well B-126N-1 that was drilled north of its Mukta field.

“This new prospect discovery will add to the existing reserve base of the area and will be taken up for early monetisation due to its proximity to the existing Mukta field,” a company statement said.

ONGC said exploration well B-126N-1 flowed gas at the rate of 298,293 cubic metres per day and oil at 789 barrels per day from one interval, while a second interval flowed oil at 1289 bpd and gas at nearly 35.1 Mcmd.

The Indian state-controlled giant has declared a total of eight oil and gas finds during the ongoing financial year 2020-2021, which includes a prominent deep-water discovery in Block KG-DWN-98/2, off the country’s eastern coast.

Last year it made an oil and gas discovery in the Cluster-2 region of the KG-DWN-98/2 Block in the gas-rich Krishna Godavari basin.

“Exploratory well KGD982NA-PDM-SH-1 drilled in Cluster-2 (KG-DWN-98/2) NELP PML Block, KG Offshore flowed oil at 3496 barrels per day and gas at 61.926 thousand cubic metres per day from sand in Godavari Clay formation,” ONGC had said.

ONGC also announced its results for the third financial quarter ending 31 December of 2020-2021, with net profit plummeting by almost 67% to 1378 billion Indian rupees ($190 million) compared to the corresponding period last year.

Exploration

New discovery: India's ONGC makes west coast offshore oil and gas find