Reliance Industries, BP Start Second Deepwater Gas Field In KG D6 Block off the eastern coast

Reliance Industries and BP have announced that production has begun at the Satellite Cluster gas field in block KG D6 off the eastern coast. RIL and BP have been working on three deep-water gas projects in block KG D6 – R Cluster, Satellite Cluster and MJ – which are expected to collectively produce natural gas worth around 30 mmscmd (1 billion cubic feet a day) by 2023 and account for up to 15 per cent of India’s gas demand.

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

Reliance Industries is the operator of the KG D6 block, with a participating interest of 66.67 per cent and BP holds the remaining 33.33 per cent.

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.

The R Cluster and Satellite Cluster are together 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.

Reliance Industries is the largest private sector company in India, with activities spanning hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services. And BP is one of the largest global energy companies operating in the country.

At 11:45 am, the shares of Reliance Industries were trading at Rs 1,946.80, higher by 2.3 per cent, on the BSE, as against a 1.2 per cent rise in the benchmark indices.