Reliance, BP invite bids for sale of gas from KG D6 basin

Reliance Industries Ltd and UK's BP Plc have invited companies to bid for the sale of gas produced from the KG D6 basin, which will be available from February 1. Both the energy giants have formed a joint venture to develop and produce gas from deep water fields in the KG-D6 block off the Kakinada coast.

"The gas produced for KG D6 will be available for sale at the delivery point at Gadimoga near Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh tentatively from 01 February 2021," the companies, in a newspaper notice, said on Wednesday.

The media notice says S&P Global's unit CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Ltd will conduct the online auction process. The Reliance Industries stock was trading 0.22 per cent or Rs 4.40 up at 1,994.5 today as compared to the previous day close of Rs 1,990.05.

The KG D6 field is located about 60km from the existing KG D6 Control & Riser Platform off the Kakinada coast. It comprises a subsea production system tied back to CRP via a subsea pipeline.

Production at the R Cluster, an ultra-deep-water gas field in block KG D6 started on December 18. This is the first in the trio of projects that account for 25 per cent of domestic production of these companies.

The three deepwater gas projects in block KG D6 are R Cluster, Satellites Cluster and MJ. Together they are expected to meet 15 per cent of India's gas demand by 2023.

The companies are using existing hub infrastructure in KG D6 block to produce gas from deep waters. RIL is the operator of KG D6 with a 66.67 per cent participating interest and BP holds a 33.33 per cent participating interest.

Located at a water depth of over 2,000 meters, it is the deepest offshore gas field in Asia. The field is expected to reach plateau gas production of about 12.9 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) in 2021. The next project in line, the Satellites Cluster, is expected to come onstream in 2021, followed by the MJ project in 2022.

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