Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said Oil India Limited (OIL) has reported presence of natural gas in Sri Vijayapuram-3 an exploratory well located 15 km off the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 355 metres.

In a post on his X handle, Puri said, “An ocean of energy opportunities reinforced in the Andaman Sea! Very happy to report the presence of natural gas in Sri Vijayapuram-3 an exploratory well drilled by Oil India Ltd. 15 km off the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 355 meters. Initial production testing of the well at the depth of 1,900 plus meters in the Eocene formation has established the presence of natural gas through continuous flaring.”

He said Oil India is carrying out gas sampling to assess the composition and calorific value of gas and to carry out isotope studies to understand the genesis of the gas.