Gas output from India's Hazira field operated by Canada's Niko Resources will rise by 40 per cent to 222 million cubic feet per day by April 2004, the majority partner in the project said on Friday.

Niko holds a 37 per cent stake in the project that has an estimated 21 billion cubic metres (742 billion cubic feet) of gas reserves, while Gujarat State Petroleum Corp holds 67 per cent.

GSPC managing director D J Pandian said output would rise after drilling more wells in the project near the textile city of Surat in western India.

"We expect the offshore platform to be ready by February 2004 and production from new six wells to begin next April," Pandian told reporters.

The field would also produce 1,500 barrels per day of crude oil in 2004. This could rise to about 5,000 bpd after a year, he said.

GSPC chairman C K Koshy said the company, which has an 80 per cent stake in an offshore block in the Krishna Godavari basin in the east coast of southern Andhra Pradesh state, would complete the seismic data acquisition in the next few weeks.

"The block has enormous potential. A definite figure will be available only once we analyse the seismic data," he said.

Company officials had earlier estimated gas reserves at the block to be more than 10 trillion cubic feet.

In an adjoining block, Reliance Industries Ltd and Niko discovered a field with an estimated 14 tcf of gas.

"We will invest about Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) in drilling and developing the KG basin. Most of the investment requirements would be met through internal accruals," Koshy said.

GSPC, which has signed 18 production sharing agreements with the government in partnership with various foreign and domestic oil companies, plans to aggressively bid for new exploration blocks, for which the government is currently holding road shows.

"We will aggressively bid for new blocks, particularly those on offer in Gujarat," Pandian said.