Hardy Relinquishes D9 Block, Offshore India. Puts focus on D3

Hardy Oil and Gas plc, an upstream oil and gas company focused on India, announces that on 23 April 2012 the Company agreed to relinquish the KG-DWN-2001/1 (D9) exploration licence.

On 23 April 2012, the Company received a proposal from Reliance Industries Limited, the operator of Hardy’s D9 block, in which the Company holds a 10 per cent interest, for the relinquishment of the block. The proposal set out that following the integration of all geoscientific data and the results of the three exploration wells, including the KG-D9-A2 natural gas discovery, that the block’s hydrocarbon potential is low and further exploration or appraisal activity is unwarranted. Subsequently, Hardy has provided its consent to the relinquishment of the D9 block.

The D9 exploration licence is located in the Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin on the East Coast of India and presently covers an area of approximately 8,695 km2.

The Company’s D3 exploration licence, located in the Krishna Godavari Basin, remains the main focus for our organic growth potential. “We will continue to collaborate actively with our partners Reliance and BP to optimise the exploration programme for this highly prospective block,” said Hardy in a statement.

Reliance has used Transocean’s Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 drillship for drilling in the area. The drillship last year set a world record for the deepest water depth by an offshore drilling rig of 10,194 feet of water.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, April 24, 2012