Ahmedabad

The state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation today said it has been “successful in carrying out multiple hydro-fracturing (HF) process” in its Deen Dayal West field in Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, which could yield around 50 MMSCFD gas initially.

“GSPC has carried out four stages of HF successfully in one of the wells….After clean-up, the well is likely to be put under production in the first week of May 2016,” the company said in a press release.

In hydraulic fracturing, cracks are created in the deep-rock formations using high-pressure injection of ‘fracking fluid’ to extract natural gas, petroleum and brine.

GSPC has to use a pressure of 13000 PSI (approximately 900 times more than the atmospheric pressure) and 300,000 pounds of proppant for each zone to be fractured.

“Multiple HF …at a depth of 5000 metres below sea bed is first of its kind in India and may be in global scenario,” the company said.

“This successful completion of the HF process is expected to stimulate replication by the other prominent gas players in the country in the similar environment,” it said.

A CAG report recently tabled in the Gujarat Assembly had called into question the company’s investment of Rs 19,576 crore in its KG block project, stating that commercial production in the block was yet to start.

The CAG also painted a gloomy picture of GSPC’s finances, as its borrowing stood at Rs 19,716 crore as of March 2015, a jump of 177 percent since 2011. The company, CAG report said, borrowed heavily for KG block activities which did not yield due returns.

PTI