RIL-BP to invest $1.5 billion to develop six satellite gas fields

Reliance Industries (RIL) and its partner BP Plc of the UK will invest about $1.5 billion to bring to production six satellite gas discoveries in the flagging KG-D6 block by 2022.

RIL-BP on Monday jointly submitted a field development plan to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) for what are known as satellite and other satellite fields, sources said.

They plan to develop four deep-sea satellite gas finds, named D-2, 6, 19 and 22, together with two other nearby finds, D-29 and D30, in the Krishna Godavari basin block.

In all, five to six gas producing wells will be drilled and tied to production facilities, they said adding that the peak output may be in the range of 10 to 12 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmpd).

The four satellites and the two other satellite finds (D29 and D30), R-Series and MJ gas discoveries, are the ones on which RIL and BP had announced investing ~40,000 crore to reserve the flagging production from KG-D6 block.

Sources said development of the six satellite finds are being taken up together, while D-34 and D-55 (MJ) would have separate development plans.

The government in 2012 had approved a $1.529-billion plan to produce 10.36 mscmpd of gas from four satellite fields of block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) by 2016-17.