Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) on Wednesday announced discovery of gas reserves for the first time in the deep sea block in the Krishna Godavari basin off East Coast. According to an official spokesman here, the discovery was made in block KG-DWN-2003/1, lying about 50 km from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The block was awarded to RIL in the fifth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Dhirubhai-39 The company, which has made several gas discoveries in the region in the past, said that it was evaluating the commercial viability of the find in the block. The discovery, named Dhirubhai-39, is the first in the 3,288 sq. km KG-DWN-2003/1. The gas discovery has been made in the very first exploratory well in this block, the spokesman said. RIL holds 90 per cent interest in the block while Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc holds the balance 10 per cent. The well KG-V-D3-A1 was drilled at a water depth of 716 metres, to a total depth of 1,937 metres with the objective of exploring Pleistocene deep water fan complex play fairway. A thick reservoir was encountered with gross hydrocarbon column of around 84 metres in Pleistocene the potential of which was evaluated through wire-line based technology called Modular Dynamic Testing (MDT). Subsequently, the well flowed at a rate of 38.1 million standard cubic feet per day on conventional testing. This play fairway is expected to cover a large area of the block, the spokesman said. The discovery has been notified to the Government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.