D6 gas output hits new low as RIL shuts another well
23 Jan 2013
Gas output from the Reliance Industries operated Krishna-Godavari Basin in the Bay of Bengal has plummeted to a new low of 20.88 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) as it has shut down an eighth well out of 22 in its D6 block.
According to a status report prepared by the petroleum ministry's technical arm, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), RIL shut the well B6 on the main producing fields of Dhiburbhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) in the KG-D6 block on 9 January "due to water loading" or flooding.
On 29 November, the company had shut the well B4, the seventh well in D1&D3 fields.
The latest shutting led to the output slipping from D1&D3 to 16.98 million standard cubic meters per day during the week ended 13 January, the report said. Together with 4.37 mmsmcd from the MA oilfield in the same block, the output totalled 21.35 mmscmd in the week.
However, the production has since plummeted further to 20.88 mmscmd this week, the lowest level since D1&D3 started production in April 2009.
RIL has drilled 22 wells on D1&D3 fields but has put only 18 on production so far. D1&D3, which started gas production in April 2009, had touched a peak of 55 mmscmd in August 2010 before beginning of water and sand ingress in wells.