Procedural delays could narrow the scope for increasing output from Reliance Industries-operated D6 block.
If the November-March 2011 work season is lost, then increasing output from the block may get delayed beyond 2014, sources privy to the developments said.
Besides, development of the area to bring it to production would also mean mobilisation of resources – drilling vessel, geo technical and seismic vessel – which can take anywhere between 10 days to a month depending on the location. Each vessel costs upwards of $10 million.
Window for Exploration
The operator (Reliance Industries) along with its partners in the block – BP and Niko Resources – has already submitted to the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons proposals to do necessary studies to increase output. Initial estimates show that the satellite fields can produce 30 mmscmd or more of gas. Together, with the producing fields (D-1 and D-3) the output from the block will be about 65 mmscmd.
“There are seasonal windows in which exploration and development works can be done in deepwater. November-March is one such period. Every delay would mean pushing back the production period,” a source said.
The Reliance Industries-BP team is convinced that the way forward to increase output is to draw lessons from existing producing fields and to integrate them with the next wave of development (from discoveries already made).
Currently, Reliance is producing 32 mmscmd of gas from 14 wells out of the 18 wells that have been drilled and hooked up. It is producing 7 mmscmd from MA fields in the block. The drop in production has been caused by a decline in reservoir pressure and the ingress of water.
Drilling pattern
Following the directions of the Management Committee – which oversees the operations of the block – Reliance had drilled four more wells. One was drilled in the main channel, which ended up tapping the same gas which was already under production. The wells drilled outside the channel did not have sufficient gas to make it commercially viable.
“On the basis of the field performance in two years of production, RIL had reached the conclusion that drilling additional wells would not enhance output. For that reason, the operator had resisted drilling additional wells. The four wells drilled only further corroborated this understanding so that indiscriminate drilling is not done,” another source added.