Reliance Industries is likely to hit a peak output of 80 million standard cubic meters per day from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields in 2012-13 fiscal, the Economic Survey has said.
The KG-D6 fields, off the Andhra coast, has helped double the country’s natural gas availability but has for the past few months seen a sharp dip. Production fell from 60 mmscmd achieved in mid-2010 to 52-53 mmscmd currently.
“The approved field development plan for Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (first two of nearly a dozen gas finds in the KG-D6 block that have been put on production) envisages gas production to the tune of 80 mmscmd from the third year of commercial production, i.e. with effect from 2012-13,” the pre-Budget statement on the health of the economy said.
Gas production from KG-D6 began on April 1, 2009. “The current gas production from the KG-D6 field is about 53 mmscmd, of which about 45 mmscmd is being produced from D1 and D3 fields and about 8 mmscmd from the MA oilfield,” it said.
The gas output from KG-D6 has helped the nation’s natural gas production jump 12.8 per cent to 53.59 billion cubic meters in 2010-11 against 47.51 bcm in 2009—10.
The Survey, which was presented to Parliament today, said Reliance and Cairn India have helped push India’s crude oil production up by about 12.67 per cent to 37.96 million tonnes during the current fiscal.
For a nation that is 75 per cent reliant on imports to meet its crude oil needs, the Krishna-Godavari basin deep-sea oil find by Reliance, and Rajasthan’s Barmer desert discovery by Cairn will for the second year in a row help show growth in an otherwise stagnant domestic output.
“During the current financial year (2010-11), production of crude oil is estimated at 37.96 mt, which is about 12.67 per cent higher than the crude oil production of 33.69 mt during 2009-10,” the pre-Budget statement said.
Domestic crude oil production has remained at 33-34 mt and natural gas at about 32 billion cubic meters during the past five years. The rise has been primarily due to increase in crude oil production from Rajasthan.
“Crude oil production by Cairn Energy India Pvt Ltd started in the block RJ-ON-90/1 with effect from August 29, 2009 at the initial production rate of 3,500 barrels per day. Current crude oil production from this block is about 125,000 bpd (6.25 million tonnes),” it said.
Besides, Reliance’s predominantly gas rich KG-D6 block, off the east coast, is producing a little less than one mt of oil.