Reliance Industries To Commence Gas Production From MJ Field In KG-D6 Block

Reliance Industries Limited, India's largest oil producer, is set to begin natural gas production from the MJ field, located in the KG-D6 block off the Andhra coast in India. The MJ field is expected to start production in the first quarter of the financial year 2023-24, which runs from April 2023 to March 2024. The field is expected to contribute significantly to gas output from the KG-D6 block, which is the only deepwater block under production in India and is situated deep within the terrains of the Andhra coast.

The KG-D6 block is jointly owned by Reliance Industries and UK supermajor BP, with Reliance holding a 66.67% operated interest and BP holding the remaining 33.33%. The average production of the KG-D6 block was 20 million standard cubic meters per day in the January-March quarter, according to an investor presentation filed on the securities exchange.

Reliance and BP are spending around $5 billion on developing KG-D6 through three different projects aimed at rejuvenating gas production from the offshore asset. The first two developments, R-Cluster and Satellite Cluster, have already started gas production, and the MJ field is expected to become operational soon. With the start of MJ operations, KG-D6 gas production is expected to increase to 30 mmscmd in the financial year 2023-24.

The MJ field is estimated to hold a minimum of 0.988 trillion cubic feet of contingent resources and has also identified oil deposits. The gas and oil will be drilled from below seabed to a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, where they will be stripped of impurities. The FPSO is built to handle 60,000 barrels per day of liquids and around 12.7 million cubic meters per day of gas.

The floater is expected to have condensate production capacity of 30,000 bpd and water-handling capacity of at least 20,000 bpd, with the potential for the latter to be increased. The oil will be loaded onto tankers for sale to refineries, while the gas will travel to onshore through an under-sea pipeline and onwards to customers.

Reliance Industries has so far made 19 gas discoveries in the KG-D6 block. Of these, D-1 and D-3, the largest among the lot, were brought into production from April 2009, and MA, the only oilfield in the block, was put into production in September 2008. While the MA field stopped producing in 2019, the output from D-1 and D-3 ceased in February 2020. Other discoveries have either been surrendered or taken away by the government for not meeting timelines for beginning production.

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Deepwater block under production in India