KG-D6 output may drop by May: RIL

Production in Reliance Industries (RIL)’s KG-D6 gas fields may drop to an all-time low of about 27 million cubic metres a day by April/May, owing to sand or water entering the wells, a senior ministry official said on Tuesday.

"They (RIL) have told the DGH (Directorate General of Hydrocarbons) production is likely to fall to 27 mscmd (from the current 34.5 mscmd) in the next financial year....May be around April or May," the official told reporters here. This would be the lowest production level since RIL began production from KG-DWN-98/3 or the KG-D6 block in April 2009.

Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) gas fields in KG-D6 block and the MA oilfield in the same area produced about 30 mscmd on their debut and touched 61.5 mscmd in March 2010, before water and sand ingress gradually brought down output. Today, D1&D3 produce about 27.5 mscmd and the MA another 7 mscmd.

The official said output from KG-D6 was short of the 70.39 mscmd (61.88 mscmd from D1&D3 and 8.5 mscmd from the MA field) level envisaged in the field development plan approved in 2006. Production was scheduled to touch 80 mscmd by April.

RIL has so far drilled 22 wells on Dhirubhai-1 and 3, two of the 18 gas finds in the KG-D6 block that have been brought to production. But production took place from only 18. Of these, five have stopped production due to water/sand ingress. The MA oilfield in the same block had seen one out of the five wells cease production due to the same reason. RIL is the operator of the 7,645-sq-km D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin, with 60 per cent stake, while London-based BP has a stake of 30 per cent.