Bhubaneswar, Sept. 22 -- A major natural gas discovery in the deep-sea waters off Odisha has been described as a significant achievement in India's energy exploration efforts by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The discovery has been made by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in the Mahanadi Deepwater Basin, around 43 kilometres off the Konark coast. The development is being viewed as an important step towards strengthening India's long-term energy security and increasing domestic oil and gas production.

According to the information available, ONGC drilled the exploratory well to a depth of around 1,623 metres in the deep-sea basin. Encouraging gas flows have reportedly been observed from the well ove...