Reliance Industries (RIL) will commence natural gas production from MJ field -- the third and the last set of discoveries that the company is developing in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block -- in Q4/2022 to raise overall output by about two-thirds.
The company has completed its first offshore installation campaign and a second one will commence in November 2022. Drilling and completions of wells are underway. The first gas is expected by 3Q/FY23.
RIL and its partner BP of UK plans to use a floating production system at highsea in the Bay of Bengal to bring to production the deepest gas discovery in KG-D6 block.
The MJ-1 gas find is located about 2,000 mtr directly below Dhirubhai-1 and -3 (D1 and D3) fields -- the first and the largest fields in KG-D6 block. MJ-1 is estimated to hold a minimum of 0.988 trillion cu ft of contingent resources.
The field also has oil deposits which will be produced using a floating system, called FPSO. FPSO and subsea production systems are on track.
RIL-BP are developing three deepwater gas developments in block KG-D6 — R Cluster, Satellite Cluster and MJ — which together are expected to produce around 30 mmscmd of natural gas by 2023, meeting up to 15 percent of India's gas demand.
R-Cluster started production in December 2020 and the Satellite Cluster came onstream in April 2021. While R-Cluster is expected to reach plateau gas production of about 12.9 mmscmd in 2021, Satellite Cluster will have a peak output of six mmscmd. The MJ field will have a peak output of 12 mmscmd.
The average production was 16.6 mmscmd from KG-D6 in April-June 2021. The firm had in three rounds of bidding sold 18 mmscmd of gas from the fields.
RIL has so far made 19 gas discoveries in 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 to production in September 2008.
The MA field stopped producing in 2019, while 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.
RIL is the operator of the block with 66.67 percent participating interest and BP holds 33.33 percent stake.
The company has got USD 3.62 per million BTU for KG-D6 gas in Q1/FY22. This was lower than USD 3.99 per mmBtu it got in Q4/FY21.
For the gas it produces from below coal seams in CBM blocks in Madhya Pradesh, it got USD 6.01. In January-March 2021, the firm had got USD 5.20 per mmBtu for coal-bed methane (CBM).