The project will be the very first of the 3 projects that are anticipated to meet 15% of India’s gas demand
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd and Britain’s BP Plc today announced the commencement of gas production from ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6 R-Field of Krishna Godavari basin. The project will be the very first of the 3 projects that are anticipated to meet 15% of India’s gas demand, and account for almost 25% of domestic production. Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries is the operator of KG D6 with a 66.67% participating interest and BP holds a 33.33% participating interest.
The two gas majors are creating 3 deep water gas projects in block KG D6 – R Cluster, Satellites Cluster and MJ. “We are proud of our partnership with bp that combines our expertise in commissioning gas projects expeditiously, under some of the most challenging geographical and weather conditions. This is a significant milestone in India’s energy landscape, for a cleaner and greener gas-based economy. Through our deep-water infrastructure in the Krishna Godavari basin we expect to produce gas and meet the growing clean energy requirements of the nation,” stated Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited.
The subsequent project, the Satellites Cluster, is anticipated to come onstream in 2021 followed by the MJ project in 2022. By 2023 the peak gas production from the 3 fields is anticipated to be about 30 mmscmd — about 25% of India’s domestic production.
R-Field is positioned about 60 kilometers from the current KG D6 Control & Riser Platform (CRP) off the Kakinada coast and comprises a subsea production method tied back to CRP by way of a subsea pipeline. It is at a water depth of more than 2000 meters creating it the deepest offshore gas field in Asia. “The field is expected to reach plateau gas production of about 12.9 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) in 2021,” RIL stated in a statement.
Production from older fields in the KG-D6 block was stopped in February this year. Operations at R-Field had been anticipated to get started earlier this year but had been delayed owing to the pandemic.
“Growing India’s own production of cleaner-burning gas to meet a significant portion of its energy demand, these three new KG D6 projects will support the country’s drive to shape and improve its future energy mix,” stated Bernard Looney, Chief Executive, BP.