The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) granted environment clearance for drilling eight additional exploratory wells in the CY-III-D5 block in Tamil Nadu on June 30, 2016. The cost of drilling these eight wells is about Rs 8 billion. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has been awarded exploratory rights for hydrocarbon prospecting in the offshore block CY-DWN-2001/2 under the New Exploration Licensing Policy III. The block is located in the Bay of Bengal off the east coast of India between Puducherry and Karaikal (Tamil Nadu). It is a deepwater block with water depth varying from 400 to 3,500 metres. The block covers an area of about 10,655 square km, with the nearest boundary about 22 km away from the shore.