Reliance-bp starts output from MJ oil & gas field in KG-D6
New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner bp Plc on Friday announced the start of production from the MJ oil and gas field in the KG-D6 block, scaling up India’s natural gas output to over 100 million cubic metres a day.
MJ is the third and the last set of under-seabed gas reserves discovered in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block, off the east coast that the consortium was working to produce. All three sets of discoveries, with MJ being the deepest, were made more than a decade back and have been progressively put into production since 2020.
Together, the three sets of discoveries at their peak production will account for a third of all gas produced in the country and make up for 15 per cent of India’s demand, the companies said in a statement on Friday.
“The start of gas and condensate production from the MJ field follows the start-up of the R-Cluster field in December 2020 and Satellite Cluster in April 2021,” it said.
All three developments utilise the existing hub infrastructure for the block. “Together, the three fields are expected to produce around 30 million standard cubic metres of gas a day (1 billion cubic feet a day), when MJ field reaches peak production,” it said.
“This is expected to account for around one-third of India’s current domestic gas production and meet approximately 15 per cent of India’s demand”.
The statement, however, did not give timelines for reaching peak output.
Reliance-bp had in May 2013 struck a 155-metre thick gas condensate column in the exploration well KGD6-MJ1, which was later named as D55 or MJ-1 discovery.
MJ field is located about 2,000 meters directly below the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1 and D3) fields that ceased to produce in 2020. It is estimated to hold a minimum of 0.988 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of contingent resource and can produce 12 million standard cubic metres per day of gas at peak.
The statement did not give the current output of MJ.
Reliance-bp produced 19 mmscmd of gas from two sets of discoveries in the quarter ended March 31, according to a financial statement filed by Reliance.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said: “We continue to be proud of our partnership with bp that combines our expertise in commissioning complex projects under some of the most challenging environments in the last few years. Alongside the other KG D6 fields, the MJ development truly supports the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Energy vision’ laid out by the Government of India”.
The start of output from MJ helped natural gas production in the country touch 101 million standard cubic metres per day on June 23.
bp chief executive Bernard Looney said: “By safely bringing these new developments onstream, Reliance and bp are making an important contribution to meeting India’s demand for secure supplies of gas. Our close strategic partnership with Reliance now stretches back over 15 years and we are proud of how it continues to deepen - in gas, retail, aviation fuels and sustainable mobility solutions”.
“Together, we are helping to meet India’s growing energy needs, bringing the best of each partner to create real value,” he said.
Discovered in 2013 and sanctioned in 2019, the MJ field is located in water depths of up to 1,200 metres about 30 kilometres from the existing onshore terminal at Gadimoga on the east coast of India.
MJ is a high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT), gas and condensate field. The field will produce from eight wells and reach a peak gas production of around 12 mmsmd gas and 25,000 barrels of condensate per day.
The field has been brought to production using a new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the ‘Ruby’ to process and separate the condensate, gas, water, and impurities, before sending the gas onshore for sale.
