27-07-04 State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has struck gas in the offshore region of Krishna Godavari basin.
"We have found gas in our Krishna-Godavari block, appraisal of which is yet to be done," company sources told. Out of the corporation's 37 blocks in the deep water region, 16 blocks are in the KG basin.

The company has drawn up plans to intensify its exploration work in Andhra Pradesh by planning to move a third major rig and is set to locate the first intelligent drilling facility and another integrated exploration set up in the country off the Krishna-Godavari basin coast.
In Andhra Pradesh, ONGC is engaged in the process of exploration for the last 40 years and most of the success thus far has been onshore. The company, which is gradually expanding this work to offshore in the K-G basin which has huge reserves, is expected to announce its find soon.

In February last, the company moved drill ship "Sagar Vijay" to G4 and another ship has been added in the form of "Discover Seven Seas". The company is expecting more discoveries in the region and plans to move another drill ship "Sagar Bhushan" in the next two years.
According to its corporate plan, the company plans to double the total production from about 6 bn tons to 12 bn tons by 2020. Of this, the next 4 bn would be from deep water and 2 bn from onshore work. This would mean significant investments and complemented by efforts to ramp up operations across various fields in the country.

For commercial exploration, ONGC has embarked on two major projects in the State. While one is related to G1GS15 off the Kakinada coast, the other relates to G4.
G1GS15 is being billed as the first digital production field of ONGC and termed as Intelligent field. It is proposed to begin production by 2006.