‘$6 bn JV with BP highlight of RIL's oil, gas year’

The recent Reliance Industries (RIL) and British energy major BP deal on joint investment of $6 billion across the entire energy value chain in India and starting commercial gas production from coal bed methane (CBM) blocks in Madhya Pradesh were the highlights of RIL's oil and gas business in the past year, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday. "RIL and BP have recently approved an investment plan to monetise over 3 trillion cubic feet of gas from new fields in the KG (Krishna Godavari basin) D6 block," Ambani said while addressing the company's 40th annual general meeting here. Last month, RIL and BP announced the creation of a joint venture energy vertical to work across the entire value chain, involving investment of $6 billion, or Rs 40,000 crore. This would also develop their existing deep water gas fields in India's eastern offshore to bring to fresh production 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas by 2022.

"We have commenced commercial gas production from the CBM Blocks in Madhya Pradesh. CBM development, spread over 1000 square kilometers with hundreds of wells, makes it among the largest surface footprint projects in India," Ambani said.

"First gas from these fields is expected in mid2020," he added. During the year, RIL also commissioned its paraxylene complex "making Jamnagar the largest manufacturing facility of paraxylene in the world." Besides, the company is in an advanced stage of commissioning its petcoke gasification project at Jamnagar.

Touted as largest petcoke gasification project in the world, it will convert low-value petroleum coke to high-value fuels and hydrogen so as to ensure energy self-sufficiency.