RIL may arrest decline in gas output from KG-D6 field

Reliance Industries and its partner BP plc of the UK may have finally been able to arrest the steep decline in output from their main gas field in the eastern offshore KG-D6 fields as they work to revive closed wells.

"It was anticipated that the production from KG-D6 will drop to about 11 million standard cubic meters per day by October but that is not happening. The output is around 13.4 mmscmd and is unlikely to drop below 13 mmscmd," a senior Oil Ministry official said.

The production is likely to begin rising by the end of the year and may increase to 16 mmscmd by 2015 as RIL-BP do repair work to revive six out of the nine wells on Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) fields that were shut due to high water and sand ingress.

The oil regulator DGH has already approved a $662 million production work programme and budget for 2013-14, which includes six work over jobs in the d1&D3 fields. Remedial measures for managing water production in these fields form a major component to the budget, he said.

RIL-BP are formulating suitable compression configuration to deal with declining reservoir presure and maximise recovery from the fields.

KG-D6 output will see a big upswing in 2016-17 when newer fields in the block are brought to production.

Gas output from KG-D6, as per the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), in 2016-17 will be 19.781 mmscmd.

The ministry, he said, has cleared RIL's $1.529 billion investment in developing four satellite gas finds in KG-D6 block which would produce 10 mmscmd in three years.

The Bay of Bengal KG-D6 fields, which began gas production in April 2009, had hit a peak of 69.43 mmscmd in March 2010 before water and sand ingress led to shutting down of more than one-third of the wells.

This peak output comprised 66.35 mmscmd from Dhirubhai-1 and 3, the largest of the 18 gas discoveries on the KG-D6 block, and 3.07 mmscmd from MA field, the only oil discovery on the block.

D1&D3 output has since fallen to about 10 mmscmd while gas production from MA field, which had hit a peak of 6.78 mmscmd in January 2012, has fallen to just 3.48 mmscmd.