Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP have announced first gas from Asia’s deepest offshore project.
It was confirmed today that production has started at the R Cluster, ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6, off the east coast of India.
By utilising existing hub infrastructure in the region, the pair are developing three deepwater gas projects – R Cluster, Satellites Cluster and MJ.
Combined, they are expected to meet around 15% of India’s gas demand by 2023 and will reduce the country’s dependence on imports.
RIL, which is headquartered in Mumbai, holds a 66.67% participating interest in the block, while BP makes up the remaining 33.33%.
Earlier this year, RIL, which is the biggest private firm in India, overtook Exxon to become the world’s second biggest energy company.
R Cluster, which is located around 37 miles from the existing KG D6 control and riser platform (CRP) off the Kakinada coast, is the first of the three projects to come onstream.
It’s made up of a subsea production system, which is tied back to the CRP via a subsea pipeline, and is located more than 2000 metres below the surface of the sea.
The field is expected to reach plateau gas production of about 12.9 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) in 2021.
The next project, the Satellites Cluster, is expected to come onstream next year followed by the MJ project in 2022.
Peak gas production from the three fields is forecast to be around 30 mmscmd by 2023, around a quarter of India’s domestic production.
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.”
Bernard Looney, BP chief executive, said: “This start-up is another example of the possibility of our partnership with Reliance, bringing the best of both companies to help meet India’s rapidly expanding energy needs.
“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.”
