Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and bp, on Friday, announced the start of production from the R Cluster, an ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6 off the east coast of India.
RIL and bp (BP Plc, formerly British Petroleum) are developing three deep-water gas projects in block KG D6 – R Cluster, Satellites Cluster, and MJ – which together are expected to meet nearly 15 percent of India’s gas demand by 2023.
These projects will utilize the existing hub infrastructure in the KG D6 block. RIL is the operator of KG D6 with a 66.67 percent participating interest and bp holds a 33.33% participating interest, according to a RIL release.
R Cluster is the first of the three projects to come on-stream. The field is located about 60 kilometers from the existing KG D6 Control & Riser Platform (CRP) off the Kakinada coast and comprises a subsea production system tied back to CRP via a subsea pipeline.
Located at a water depth of greater than 2,000 meters, it is the deepest offshore gas field in Asia. It is expected to reach plateau gas production of about 12.9 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) in 2021, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of RIL, said.
“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.”
The next project, the Satellites Cluster, is expected to come on-stream in 2021 followed by the MJ project in 2022.
Peak gas production from the three fields is expected to be around 30 mmscmd (1 bcf/d) by 2023, about 25% of India’s domestic production, and will help reduce the country’s dependence on imported gas.
(VP)