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NEW OIL AND GAS DISCOVERY

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) announced on April 3, 6 new oil and gas finds straddling the western and eastern coasts and the north-east region. The company sent a message to BSE, saying its find in Vasai west, off the Mumbai coast, is estimated to contain 240 million barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas, and Laipling-Gaon in Assam to have 100 million barrels of oil. ONGC also reportrd twp oil and gas finds in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhara coast, a region where Reliance found gas reserves equal to 1.2 billion barrels of oil. Besides, ONGC reported gas find in Rajasthan's Chinnewala Tibba and oil find in Banamali in Assam.

INDIA LARGEST PRODUCER OF SPONGE IRON

India has emerged as the largest producer of sponge iron in the World, overthrowing Mexico, and has registered a sustained growth during the past few years accounting for abput 12% of the global output. Sponge iron, also known as Direct reduced Iron (DRI) or Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) is a metallic product through direct reduction of iron and iron pellets in the solid state, and is used in manufacture of steel and is a substitute for melting scrap. Iran comes a close second with 5.3 milion tonnes production annually while Mexico has slipped to third place along with Venezuela with 4.8 million tonnes. Together, the four countries account for about 40% of the global spnge iron was 5.44 million tonnes. Together, the four countries account for about 40% of the global sponge iron production. In India, the production of sponge iron was 5.44 million tonnes in 2001-2002 against 5.43 million tonnes in 2000-2001 and 5.32 million tonnes in 1999-2000.