Mr RPN Singh minister of state for petroleum & natural gas informed the Rajya Sabha that the contractor of the block RJ-ON-90/1 requested for grant of additional area of about 1,700 square Kilometer which was granted by the government with certain conditions.

The two extensions of area were granted on the basis of relevant provision under Article 10.1 of Production Sharing Contract of RJ-ON-90/1 block and also on the technical merits demonstrated by the Operator that reservoir sands of Fatehgarh Formation are likely to extend beyond the northern boundary of the Block towards north and north west.

Management Committee for the Block RJ-ON-90/1 has reviewed fifteen hydrocarbon discoveries in the block out of which Field Development Plan for six discoveries submitted by the Contractor have been approved in line with PSC provisions by the MC as on date.

The estimated CAPEX as per approved FDPs for Mangala, Aishwarya, Raageswari, Saraswati and Bhagyam including crude transportation pipeline is to the tune of USD 4.04 billion, against which USD 2.99 billion has been expended by the Contractor as per the Audited Accounts upto March 2011, submitted by the Contractor.