UK's BP Plc has relinquished or
surrendered 9 of the 21 oil and gas blocks where it had bought 30 per cent stake from Reliance Industries (RIL) for $7.2 billion, due to poor hydrocarbon prospects.
Sources said after initial assessment, RIL-BP have given up 9 of the 21 blocks their joint venture had.
BP had last year bought 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas blocks of RIL, including the
gas discovery areas of KG-D6 and NEC-25. The Cabinet had, however, approved of stake buying in only 21.
Declining to comment on the relinquishment, BP India head Sashi Mukundan said: "We want to focus on quickly increasing production and finding more oil and gas".
He said output from the main Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) gas fields in KG-D6 block would increase in 2015 after the joint venture puts up additional gas compression facilities and revives some of the six closed wells.
D1 & D3 fields have seen output fall from 53-54 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) achieved in March 2010 to 21-22 mscmd currently, as one-third of the wells ceased due to high water and sand ingress. Together with 5.5-6 mscmd of output from MA field in the same area, the KG-D6 is currently 26.5-27 mscmd.
"We are still hopeful of
increasing production from D1&D3 by 2015," Mukundan said, adding that "satellite fields around the main producing areas would be put on producing beginning 2016. Besides D1&D3 and MA, KG-D6 has 16 more gas discoveries".
Mukundan also said RIL-BP is working on sequencing the gas discoveries towards raising production.
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