RIL-BP to invest Rs25,000 crore more in KG-D6 fields

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its partner BP Plc today announced plans to invest another Rs25,000 crore ($5 billion) in the flagging D6 gas fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin, even as RIL refused to part information of its Rs25,000-crore earlier investments in the gas field with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

RIL and BP Plc will jointly invest more than $5 billion over the next 3-5 years to boost natural gas output at the KG-D6 block, off the east coast of India, the two companies said during a meeting with petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily.

During their first joint meeting with the petroleum minister, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani and BP chief executive Bob Dudley are also reported to have discussed the dispute with the CAG over audit of the KG-D6 gas block.

During their meeting that lasted nearly an hour, the duo also briefed Moily of the company's plans to develop 4 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the KG-D6 where production has dropped to about 19 million standard cubic metres per day from its peak output of 62 mmscmd in 2010.

The proposed investments over the next 3-5 years are in satellite fields surrounding the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 & 3 (D1&D3) gas fields and the MA oil and gas field.

For the present, however, RIL-BP will try to augment current production by upgrading facilities at D1&D3 and MA fields.

Moily is reported to have encouraged them to invest more while assuring government support and expeditious clearance of the proposals.

Moily also tried to play down the issue of RIL-BP refusing to allow the CAG to conduct a second round of audit of KG-D6 spendings.