Reliance Industries and its partner BP Plc today won approval to invest $3.18 billion in R-Series gas field in the flagging KG-D6 block.
RIL-BP plan to bring satellite fields in the KG-D6 block to production to help reverse the decline in output.
The block oversight committee, called Management Committee (MC), headed by upstream regulator DGH, approved plans of RIL and its partners BP plc of UK and Niko Resources to produce 13-15 million standard cubic meters per day of gas for 13 years from D-34 discovery in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block, sources privy to the development said.
The planned output from D-34, which is estimated to hold an in-place reserve of 2.2 Trillion cubic feet, is equivalent to the combined current production from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) gas field and MA field in the KG-D6 block.
RIL, the operator of KG-D6 block with 60 per cent interest, had on January 30 submitted the Field Development Plan (FDP) for D-34 field to DGH. Sources said DGH after examination trimmed down the recoverable reserves to 1.191 Tcf from 1.413 Tcf estimated by the operator.
Also, the peak production of 14.9 mmscmd estimated by RIL was brought down to 12.9 mmscmd by DGH. The Dhirubhai-34 or D-34 gas discovery in the southern part of KG-D6 block in Krishna Godavari basin was notified in May 2007. The find was declared commercially viable by MC in November 2011.
RIL has so far made 19 gas discoveries and 1 oil find in the KG-D6 block. Of these, D1&D3 gas fields were brought to production in April 2009.