India, Sept. 22 -- Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has struck gas in a deepwater well off India's eastern coast, with the discovery's proximity to Odisha potentially allowing faster development if appraisal confirms commercial viability, the State-run explorer said on Monday.

ONGC made the discovery on September 18 at the MN-DW18-1-H-D well in the Mahanadi Offshore Basin, about 43 km off Konark, as part of its Samudra Manthan deepwater exploration campaign, the company said in a statement.

The well, the first drilled by ONGC in the Mahanadi Basin under the campaign, encountered gas at a depth of 1,441-1,452 metres after being drilled to a target depth of 1,623 metres. The well has been flowing gas for the past three days, with "encourag...