Reliance & BP announce start of natural gas production from Satellite Cluster in KG D6 block

• Satellite Cluster field comes onstream two months ahead of schedule despite Covid-19 challenges, said Reliance in an official statement

• Second in trio of developments together expected to meet ~15% of India's gas demand

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP have announced the start of natural gas production from the Satellite Cluster gas field in block KG D6 off the east coast of India. The news comes four months after the consortium announced the commencement of natural gas production from the R Cluster, ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6 in December 2020. R Cluster was the first of the three projects being developed by Reliance and BP in the KG basin to come onstream.

Reliance-BP's Satellite Cluster in KG D6 begins production ahead of schedule

In an official statement released on Monday, Reliance said, "The Satellite Cluster is the 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 the existing onshore terminal at Kakinada on the east coast of India in water depths of up to 1,850 meters."

ALSO READ

1. Reliance's KG 98/3 block drives India's private sector gas output up by 115.25% in March y-o-y

2. Reliance & BP announce start of natural gas production from R Cluster in block KG D6

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 to about 20 percent of India's current gas production.

The third KG D6 development, MJ, is expected to come onstream towards the latter half of 2022, said Reliance.

KG D6 fields expected to meet 15% of India's gas demand

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 percent of India's gas demand. The developments will each utilise the existing hub infrastructure in the KG D6 block. RIL is the operator of the block with a 66.67 percent participating interest and BP holds a 33.33 percent participating interest.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Telegram. Join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may follow us on Twitter here and stay updated)