Reliance Industries has received government approval for making additional investment towards developing gas reserves in its KG-D6 block in the Bay of Bengal. This can augment capacity with four to five million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) adding to the production.

Reliance and its partner BP currently produce around 30 mmscmd or about 30 percent of India's gas production, from the KG-D6 block. At an investors' call announcing the Q4 earnings, the development plan for incremental production has been approved by the government. Reliance-BP produces 30 mmscmd of gas from three sets of discoveries in the deep-sea KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block. Also, of the increase in production, KG-D6 production is almost 90 per cent of the incremental domestic gas production.

KG-D6 has aided the domestic production of natural gas, which is used to generate electricity, convert into CNG  to assist automobiles or piped gas for cooking, touching a multi-year high of 99 mmscmd.

Reliance is the operator of the KG-D6 block with a 66.67 percent stake and BP holds the remaining 33.33 percent. Reliance has so far made 19 gas discoveries in the KG-D6 block. Of these, D-1 and D-3, were brought into production in April 2009.