ONGC discovers huge gas reserves in Bay of Bengal (21 trillion cu. ft.)

[jpak]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1871147,0002.htm

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has made a huge gas find in Bay of Bengal, with initial estimates suggesting reserves of about 21 trillion cubic feet.

ONGC, which had previously discovered 2-3 tcf of gas reserves in about half-a-dozen wells in the Krishna Godavari Basin block KG-DWN-98/2, struck a 28 metre net gas pay zone when deep-sea drill-ship Belford Dolphin reached 5,300 metres depth at well UD-1, 55-km from the coast.

“The ultra-deepwater well UD-1 is yet to reach its target depth of 6,500 metres and vertical seismic profile has thrown up at least one more pay zone larger than the one encountered. There could also be oil,” an industry source said.

The well UD-1 will reach its target depth in 10 days and testing will take another week. “ONGC might be planning a new year gift to the nation with this (discovery),” the source quipped.

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[whistle]

1. Happy days are here again.....

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/happydays.htm

So long sad times
Go long bad times
We are rid of you at last
Howdy gay times
Cloudy gray times
You are now a thing of the past

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So lets sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again

Altogether shout it now
Theres no one
Who can doubt it now
So lets tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again

Your cares and troubles are gone
Therell be no more from now on
From now on...

Happy days are here again
The skies above are here again
So, lets sing a song of cheer again
Happy times
Happy nights
Happy days
Are here again!

[no_hypocrisy]

2. So which country are we going to invade and take their gas

THIS time?

[Little Wing]

3. Pull out the gas, fill it water when the ice caps melt

:crazy:

[hatrack]

4. Nice chunk of change, but less than 1 year's US consumption @ current rates

We used 22.8 Tcf in total in 2002.

http://www.naturalgas.org/business/analysis.asp

[4dsc]

5. well put

This discovery is very small in relative terms.. I wouldn''t too excited about this little gas field..

[hatrack]

6. I'm to the point that inept headline writers really piss me off

"Huge" compared to what?

[IDemo]

7. like 'Huge oil find in Gulf of Mexico', for instance

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5318776.stm

[hatrack]

8. Yes, the one they won't drill again until at least next July . . .

EDIT

He'll have to wait. A global shortage of deep-sea drilling rigs is costing Chevron precious time as it taps the Gulf, and the equipment deficit may keep oil prices high. A prime example is the $3 billion field dubbed Jack. Chevron and partner Devon Energy Corp. announced the deepest-ever well test there on Sept. 5. Politicians backing energy independence exulted. Investors sent Devon shares up 12 percent and Chevron's up 2.3 percent.

They didn't know the drilling rig Cajun Express had already plugged the Jack well and moved to another urgent job. Drilling at Jack won't resume until at least July, Thornburg says.

``There's a lot of prospects out here we'd like to drill but can't yet because there aren't enough rigs,'' says Thornburg, 58, who's overseeing drilling at another site, called Tahiti, that needed the Cajun Express to meet a more pressing deadline. The Cajun Express is one of just 18 rigs worldwide capable of tapping the deepest discoveries. For the test at Jack, the platform-shaped vessel, which motors from site to site, needed to drill 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) below the sea floor.

EDIT

The rig shortage is forcing oil companies to postpone new offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, says Peter Jackson, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a result, crude prices will remain high and U.S. reliance on imports from Africa and the Middle East will increase over the next decade, says David Foley, who manages $600 million at Grove Creek Asset Management in New York.

(Emphasis added)

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a8bU4rjdb_58&refer=news

Please, Matt Lauer, tell me more about "energy independence" thanks to the wonderful Jack field! :eyes:

[phantom power]

9. innumeracy, rampant