INTERVIEW - Hardy Oil says dry well may cut reserves estimate

LONDON (Reuters) - Hardy Oil and Gas said it may have to reduce its reserves estimates for an oil and gas reservoir it is exploring offshore India after a failed well, but remains optimistic the structure holds hydrocarbons.

London-listed and India-focused Hardy said it had plugged and abandoned a well in a structure in its D9 block for which it had previously given a recoverable reserves estimate of over 6.8 trillion cubic feet of gas.

"I would expect that to change," Chief Executive Sastry Karra told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Finance Director Dinesh Dattani said the company would press ahead with its plan to drill another three wells, as its licence for the block requires it to do.

"We believe that the source is still intact, that the structure is still there," Dattani said.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin)