RIL told to prepare expanded D6 plan

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is to present, in a fortnight, a plan to the petroleum ministry to drill another 11 gas wells in the D6 field of the Krishna-Godavari basin, where output has been falling.

The ministry’s director-general of hydrocarbons (DGH) had a three-hour meeting with RIL today. S K Srivastava, the DGH, said production was the main issue and it was deliberated at length. “The operator (RIL) has agreed it will come up with a proposal to drill more wells. Whatever is the approved development plan, they should do it. We will meet again in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Against the target of 22 wells by March 31 this year, RIL had drilled 20, leading to output of 48 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) against the projected 69.8 mscmd. Of the 20, two have not been put to production. Besides putting these two to use, RIL has been asked to take the number of operational wells to 31 by March 31 next year and to raise output to 80 mscmd.

A recent independent review of the D6 block by P Gopalakrishnan, an internationally renowned reservoir consultant, said non-drilling of wells was the main reason for falling output at the country’s biggest gas find.

The report added that after going onstream, the field had produced gas as expected for a eyar or so but RIL did not drill in line with the field development plan, causing decline and a partial regain of reservoir pressure. Beside drilling more wells immediately, the report has also suggested a strategy for preventing gas being lost to depleted reservoirs.

The declining putput has sent awry the government-approved allocation to various key sectors such as power, fertiliser and steel. RIL had so far signed up customers for 60.76 mscmd of gas, while production is around 50 mscmd. The government -- all allocation is decided by the state, regardless of who found the gas -- accorded top priority to fertiliser plants, followed by LPG extraction units, power plants and city gas distribution projects. With the fall, RIL cut supplies to all customers proportionately. It has since been directed to divert supply from steel and petrochemicals to fertiliser and power, in accordance with official policy.