Hardy provided an update on the drilling of the KG-D9-B3 well, the second exploratory well on the Company's D9 (KG-DWN-2001/1) exploration license.

The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,829 m MDRT by the Transocean drillship Discoverer India in a water depth of 2,948 m at a location some 47 km away from the nearest well. The well encountered two Tertiary aged reservoir quality sand packages of 70 and 40 m gross thickness respectively, in which gas shows ranging from 6 to 9 percent were recorded. Testing was carried out with the MDT tool which suggests water gradient in the sand packages. The well has been plugged and abandoned.

The D9 exploration license is located in the Krishna Godavari Basin on the East Coast of India and covers an area of approximately 11,605 km2. Hardy holds a 10 percent participating interest in the license which is operated by Reliance Industries Limited.

Yogeshwar Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of Hardy, commented, "Although this exploration well result is disappointing, the presence of thick reservoir quality sands and the potential presence of a petroleum system are encouraging. We will now work with our partner to incorporate the data gathered to update the geological model."

Tags: Reliance Industries Limited