Reliance Industries and its partner BP of UK have pushed back the start of production from the second wave of discoveries in their eastern offshore KG-D6 block to June-end of 2020.

At current Brent oil price of around USD 26 per barrel, the gas from R-Series field in KG-D6 block will cost about USD 2.2 per million British thermal unit -- lower than even the government mandated rate of USD 2.39 for gas from state-owned ONGC fields.

Gas production from R-Cluster was to start by mid-May 2020, but the Coronavirus lockdown has delayed it. Reliance Industries expects to achieve a peak output of around 28 mmscmd by FY24 when all three projects are up and running.

Reliance Industries and BP are developing three sets of discoveries in KG-D6 block -- R-Cluster, Satellites, and MJ by 2022. R-Cluster will have a peak output of 12 mmscmd while Satellites, which are supposed to begin output from mid-2021, will produce a maximum of seven mmscmd.

MJ field will start production in H2/2022 and have a peak output of 12 mmscmd. Reliance in November 2019 auctioned the first set of five mmscmd of gas from the newer discoveries in the KG-D6 block by asking bidders to quote a price (expressed as a percentage of the dated Brent crude oil rate), supply period and the volume of gas required.