RIL starts test production of oil from KG basin

Reliance Industries (RIL), India’s largest company by market capitalisation, said the company has started preliminary crude oil production at its D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani will make a formal announcement of production of oil at D6 block in Mumbai on Sunday, said a Reliance official.

“The tests have started. There is no continuous flow as yet,” said the official.

Reliance, and its Canadian partner Niko Resources has spent $2.23 billion in bringing the project to the production stage.

“The rate of oil-flow can not be determined just yet, as it is very irregular,” said the official. He added that the flow of oil would stabilise over the next couple of weeks, only after which the oil was likely to be sold to refineries.

Reliance and Niko discovered oil in two wells in the MA field in the D6 block around five years ago. Once the current testing phase is completed, the consortium is expected to start producing around 15,000 barrels a day of crude oil from the field. The production could go up to a peak rate of around 35,000 barrels a day, the official said.