India’s Reliance Industries Limited and UK’s BP are set to start awarding contracts to speed up the development of gas fields off the east coast of India.
The two companies have jointly announced the decision to progress development of the ‘R-Series’ deep water gas fields in Block KGD6 in the Bay of Bengal.
The R-series (D34) project is a dry gas development in water depths of more than 2,000 meters, approximately 70 kilometers offshore.
The fields will be developed as a subsea tieback to the existing control and riser platform off Block KGD6. The project is expected to produce up to 12 million cubic meters (425 million cubic feet) of gas a day, coming on stream in 2020.
This is the first of three planned projects in Block KGD6 that are expected to be developed in an integrated manner, producing from about 3 trillion cubic feet of discovered gas resources. RIL and BP plan to submit development plans for the next two projects for Government approval before the end of 2017.
$6 billion
Development of the three projects, with total investment of c. INR 40,000 crore (US$6 billion), is expected to bring a total c. 30-35 million cubic meters (1 billion cubic feet) of gas a day new domestic gas production onstream, phased over 2020-2022.
Mukesh Ambani , Chairman and Managing Director of RIL, said: “We are delighted to progress these developments, which will provide India with much needed indigenous energy and support the Prime Minister’s call for import substitution and the development of a gas-based economy. The solid relationship between our two companies is a great example of what can be achieved while working together at scale.”
Speaking in New Delhi on Thursday, Bob Dudley , BP Group Chief Executive, welcomed the investment: “This is an important step forward for BP in India. Working closely together, Reliance and BP are now able to develop these deepwater water gas resources offshore India efficiently and economically. It is a testament to our commitment to working in partnership with Reliance and with the Government to produce more energy in India, for India”.
According to the joint statement, India today consumes over 5 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas and aspires to double gas consumption by 2022. Gas production from the integrated development is expected to help reduce India’s import dependence and amount to over 10% of the country’s projected gas demand in 2022; benefiting India and domestic consumers at large.