Vedanta group firm Cairn Oil & Gas on Monday announced an oil discovery in a Barmer district block of Rajasthan, not very far away from its prolific oilfield in the same desert.

In a stock exchange filing, the firm said it has notified the government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) of the discovery in exploratory well WM-Basal DD Fan-1 drilled in OALP Block RJ-ONHP-2017/1.

The discovery has been named 'Durga'. It is the second well drilled in the block to a depth of 2615 meters.

Cairn Oil & Gas, a unit of Mumbai-listed Vedanta Ltd, holds 100 per cent participating interest in the block.

Notably, the RJ-ONHP-2017/1 Block is located in Gudamalani and Chohtan Tehsil of Barmer district, and is spread over an area of 542 square kilometre. It was among the 41 blocks that were awarded to the company in the OALP-I round of bidding in 2018.

This is the third hydrocarbon discovery notified by the company under the OALP portfolio, the firm said.

"During the drilling of the well, four hydrocarbon zones were encountered in the Dharvi Dungar (DD) formation of Late Paleocene to Early Eocene age," it noted.

Further evaluation is being carried out to assess potential commerciality of the discovery, Vedanta said.