India's Block NEC-25 is home to multiple mid to deepwater gas discoveries that were unveiled more than 15 years ago but not developed because of commerciality concerns and the lack of technology

India’s private sector giant Reliance Industries and UK supermajor BP are laying the groundwork for development of Mahanadi basin Block NEC-25, off India’s east coast.

NEC-25 is home to multiple mid to deepwater gas discoveries that were unveiled by more than 15 years ago, but could not be developed due to commerciality concerns and the lack of technology at that time.

Reliance and its partner BP in 2013, submitted a $3.5 billion plan to exploit more than 1 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves at NEC-25, but the plan was never approved by India's upstream regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), over technical concerns.