It is India's biggest gas find in 30 years. And it could well turn out to be the world's largest find in recent times. State-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has struck gas in the Krishna Godavari basin, off Andhra Pradesh coast in the Bay of Bengal. The reserves are estimates at 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf). In 1976, ONGC found gas in the Vasai offshore fields (in the Arabian Sea) with an estimated reserve of 24-27 tcf.

GSPC's gas find is valued at almost $50 billion. It should be possible to pump out almost 40-50 million cubic metres of gas every day. Simply put, gas production from this find alone, could end up firing 10,000 MW of power. This is enough to meet the peak power requirements of Delhi and Mumbai.

Globally, the largest gas find in recent times was in Myanmar struck in November 2003, with reserves estimated at 11-14 tcf. OVL and Gail India each have a stake in Myanmar's A-1 block. GSPC's find, christened Deendayal, is expected to spew commercial gas from end 2007.

A bargaining chip for India the Krishna Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal could well turn out to be India's trump card in the Great Game for global energy sources. Gas finds in the KG basin off the Andhra coast — GSPC's Deendayal block, Reliance's Dhirubhai blocks, ONGC's G1 deepwater blocks and Cairn Energy's Annapurna, Padmavati and Kanaka Durga blocks — may tilt the energy matrix for India as it goes about globe trotting in search of energy security. P 9 Total output at 100 mcm per day

IT dwarfs the recent gas discoveries in the region by Reliance and ONGC. While Reliance was the first to strike gas off the Andhra coast in November 2002, estimated at 14 tcf, ONGC announced its find in March this year with estimated reserves of 4 tcf.

Avinash Chandra, former director general of hydrocarbons. “It is a giant-sized discovery by international standards. The American Bureau of Standards calls a field of 500 million barrels or 2 tcf gas reserve as giant. The Deendayal field would be 10 times as big.”

At present, India produces 80 million cubic metres of gas per day. Of this, 65 million cubic metres is available for commercial use. GSPC's find will increase India's total gas production to 100 million cubic metres per day. In other words, the Deendayal field alone will account for a fifth of India's total gas production. Add to this the estimated gas production by Reliance, and India could more than double its output five years from now.

Experts say while Reliance's gas discovery is less than GSPC's, at 14 tcf, the actual yield out of its fields should be high at 40 million cubic metres per day as they are from “younger sediments”.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, quoting experts said, the gas find in the eastern offshore, “based on advanced interpretation of 3D seismic data, wireline log data and test results in the KG-8 well, the initial gas in place on this structure would be 20 tcf,” Mr Modi made the announcement at a Press conference in Ahmedabad.

GSPC executives said they expected to recover around 80-90% of the gas in place, and bring the gas onshore by the end of 2007. The director general of hydrocarbons, V K Sibal, said, “The finds are promising, but the actual estimate will depend on test results.”

Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said “The KG basin finds only reinforce my belief that the Bay of Bengal is the North Sea of South Asia.”