Reliance and bp start up second new deepwater gas field in India’s KG D6 block

Mumbai, April 26, 2021

The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and bp today announced the start of production from its Satellite Cluster gas field in block KG D6 off the east coast of India.

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% of India’s gas demand.

The developments will each utilize the existing hub infrastructure in the KG D6 block. RIL is the operator of the block with a 66.67% participating interest and bp holds a 33.33% participating interest.

A press release from RIL 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 metres.

The field will produce gas from four reservoirs utilizing a total of five wells and is expected to reach gas production of up to 6 mmscmd, the release said.

Together, the R Cluster and Satellite Cluster are expected to contribute to about 20% of India’s current gas production.

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

RIL is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of Rs 659,205 crore ($ 87.1 billion), cash profit of Rs 71,446 crore ($9.4 billion), and net profit of Rs 39,880 crore ($5.3 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2020.

The company's activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and digital services. RIL is the top-most ranked company from India to feature in Fortune’s Global 500 list of World’s Largest Companies – currently ranking 96th. The company stands 71st in the Forbes Global 2000 rankings for 2019 – top-most among Indian companies.

With a century-long business presence in India, bp is one of the largest international energy companies in the country. In addition to their gas value chain partnership, in 2020 bp and RIL also completed the formation of their major retail, aviation fuels and mobility alliance. bp’s activities in India also include Castrol lubricants, oil and gas trading, clean energy projects through Lightsource bp, IT back office activities, a new global business services centre, staffing and training for the global bp marine fleet, and the recruitment of skilled Indian employees for bp’s global businesses.

NNN