RIL failed to meet production commitments on KG-D6 gas field: DGH

29 Mar 2011

New Delhi: India's oil regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), said Monday that Reliance Industries had failed to meet production commitments on drilling wells on the eastern offshore KG-D6 field leading to a drastic fall in production.

Reliance had committed to drill 22 wells on Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields - the largest of 18 gas discoveries in the block KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal, by April 2011 to produce 53.4 million standard cubic meters of gas per day.

A further output of 8-9 mmscmd was to come from the MA oilfield in the same block, taking the total output committed in the Field Development Plan (FDP) to 61.88 mmscmd by April 2011.

Against this, Reliance has drilled and completed 18 production wells on D1 and D3 fields which provide a combined output of about 42 mmscmd, the director general of hydrocarbons (DGH) SK Srivastava said Monday.

"It has to drill two more wells by April," the DGH said but did not clarify what action the government or the DGH could take if Reliance failed to honour its commitment.

Output from KG-D6 is to hit peak of 80 mscmd by 2012-13, with the company drilling a total of 31 wells.