Mumbai, Sept. 22: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has finally struck oil in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin.

After 27 gas finds in the concession famously known as KG-D6, RIL has reported its first oil discovery in the deep-water block KG-DWN-98/1 (KG-D4).

There has been a lot of speculation about this oil find. Last week, Macquarie Research brought out a report in which it said: “The KG-D4 oil discovery, potentially the largest on India’s east coast, could be larger than KG-D6’s in-place oil reserves of 1.6 billion barrels.”

The company today spilled the details on the new find. “The oil find in this exploration block marks a new beginning in this basin. The well was located at a water depth of 565 metres and was drilled to a target depth of 3,595 metres. During the drill stem testing (DST), the well flowed 596 barrels of oil per day,” it said in a statement.

The deep-water block was awarded under first round of the new exploration licensing policy bidding. RIL holds a 100 per cent participating interest in the block, which spans 8,100 sq km.

The company has named the discovery Dhirubhai-36 and it has been notified to the Indian government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

The discovery comes after nearly 20 years of exploration with more than 30 exploratory wells drilled by various operators in the geologically complex basin. The potential commercial interest of the discovery is being ascertained through integration of additional data and analysis. RIL said the oil strike came after it attained success in the Godavari and Cauvery deeper plays, leading it to continue exploration efforts in Krishna offshore.

This discovery comes only two months after the company found oil and gas in its first well in the deep waters of the Cauvery basin. Initial tests showed that the well produced 31 million standard cubic feet of gas and 1,200 barrels of liquid hydrocarbon per day from the main zone.

RIL share price has risen substantially since January 18 last year when it was first traded in the de-merged avatar. It had ended at Rs 715.50 per share.

STRIKING IT BIG

• First deepwater oil find in the KG basin
• Potential to top in-place oil reserves of the more famous KG-D6 basin
• Find comes two months after a significant oil and gas discovery in its first well in the deep waters of the Cauvery basin
• Reliance stock soars 80% this year