State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation said on Thursday that it has discovered gigantic oil reserves, west of the Vasai gas field, off the Mumbai coast.

The Vasai West is estimated to contain 240 million barrels of in-place oil plus oil-equivalent gas, a company statement said.

"ONGC made six new discoveries, at Vasai West (oil and gas) in Western Offshore, GS-49 (gas) and GS-KW (oil and gas) in Krishna Godavari offshore, Chinnewala Tibba (gas) in Rajasthan, Laipling-gaon (oil and gas) and Banamali (oil) both in Assam," it said.

Laipling-gaon is estimated to contain 100 million barrels of in-place oil reserves.

At Chinnewala Tibba, testing indicates presence of sweet gas with more than 7000 Kcal/m calorific value, against usual range of 1250 to 3100 Kcal/m in other gas finds in Rajasthan.

ONGC's crude production in 2002-03 crossed the 26 million tonne mark, an increase of 1.3 million tonnes over the production in 2001-02.

"The increase came mainly from ONGC's prime asset, the Mumbai High field, thanks to the re-development projects launched in 2001," the release said.

The company achieved highest-ever production and sales of natural gas, 24.3 billion cubic meter and 19.5 billion cubic metre respectively.

Production of 3.8 million tonnes of value-added products - petrochemical feedstock, LPG, naphtha and natural gas liquids, kerosene - also reached all-time high levels.