Reliance, bp start up second new deepwater gas field in KG D6 block

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and bp on Monday announced the start of production from Satellite Cluster gas field in block KG D6 off the eastern coast.

RIL and bp have been developing three deep-water gas developments in block KG D6 - R Cluster, Satellite Cluster and MJ - which together are expected to produce around 30 mmscmd (1 billion cubic feet a day) of natural gas by 2023, meeting up to 15 per cent of India's gas demand.

The developments will each utilise existing hub infrastructure in the KG D6 block. RIL is the operator of the block with 66.67 per cent participating interest and bp holds 33.33 per cent participating interest.

The satellite cluster is second of the three developments to come onstream following the start-up of R Cluster in December 2020. It had originally been scheduled to start production in mid-2021.

The field is located about 60 km from existing onshore terminal at Kakinada on the east coast of India in water depths of up to 1,850 metres.The field will produce gas from four reservoirs utilising a total of five wells and is expected to reach gas production of up to 6 mmscmd.

Together, the R Cluster and Satellite Cluster are expected to contribute about 20 per cent of India's current gas production. The third KG D6 development, MJ, is expected to come onstream towards the latter half of 2022.

RIL is India's largest private sector company with a consolidated turnover of Rs 6.59 lakh crore, cash profit of Rs 71,446 crore and net profit of Rs 39,880 crore for the year which ended on March 31, 2020.

Its activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services.

( With inputs from ANI )