Reliance Industries (RIL) and BP announced the start of production from R Cluster, ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6 off the east coast of India.
RIL and BP have commissioned India's first ultra-deepwater gas project. Both the companies are developing three deepwater gas projects in block KG D6 – R Cluster, Satellites Cluster and MJ – which together are expected to meet approximately 15 percent of India’s gas demand by 2023.
These projects will utilise the existing hub infrastructure in KG D6 block. RIL is the operator of KG D6 with 66.67 percent participating interest and BP holds 33.33 percent participating interest.
R Cluster is the first of the three projects to come on-stream. The field is located about 60 km from the existing KG D6 Control & Riser Platform (CRP) off the Kakinada coast and comprises a subsea production system tied back to CRP via a subsea pipeline.
Located at a water depth of greater than 2,000 mtr, it is the deepest offshore gas field in Asia. The field is expected to reach plateau gas production of about 12.9 mmscmd in 2021.
The next project, the Satellites Cluster, is expected to come on-stream in 2021 followed by the MJ project in 2022.
The peak gas production from the three fields is expected to be around 30 mmscmd (one bcf/d) by 2023 which is expected to be about 25 percent of India’s domestic production and will help reduce the country’s dependence on imported gas.
