Production plans for Reliance's K-G basin block soon

Wednesday, 12 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Plans to commercially exploit an exploration block in India's Krishna-Godavari (K-G) deepwater basin owned by Reliance Industries are expected to be cleared within a month. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH), the state body that studies and monitors hydrocarbon exploration and production programmes, is considering the commercial plan for the Dhirubhai-I block. "The plan for commercial exploitation of Dhirubhai-I block has been submitted to us and we expect to finalise the plan after studying four or five options within a month," Avinash Chandra, director general of DGH told IANS. "That is well within the prescribed limit of 90 days we have set for such approvals," he added. India, which depends on imports for 70 percent of its hydrocarbon requirements, is looking to the new finds of oil and gas to bridge the growing gap between demand and supply. The Dhirubhai-I block, named after the late chairman of Reliance Industries, is estimated to have in place reserves of 3.3-3.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf). Reliance is yet to submit a plan for commercial exploitation of the Dhirubhai-III block in the same basin. This block has in place reserves of about 4.1 tcf. Together with the Dhirubhai-II block's 0.2 tcf, the region has proved the hydrocarbon potential of the area as estimated by DGH. Much more gas finds are expected in the blocks awarded to Reliance Industries in the K-G basin, with only one-third of the area explored so far, said Chandra. "With only six wells drilled so far and just 23 percent of the area explored, we expect more gas in and around the area," said Chandra. As is the norm, DGH is studying various options to optimise exploitation of reserves and facilitate "cost economic production". Reliance holds interest in 23 exploration acreages in India in consortium with other exploration and production companies. Reliance is the operator in 21 of the blocks that cover a wide range of geological settings, spanning shallow and deep waters on the east and west coast of India. Reliance's K-G blocks have together revealed reserves of over seven trillion cubic feet of gas in the biggest find globally last year. Reliance holds these blocks in consortium with Canada-based Niko Resources. The private sector conglomerate has engaged Dallas-based petroleum consultants D&M as advisors for the exploration and production programme in the K-G basin blocks. "We hope to finalise the production plan by later this month enabling Reliance to proceed with the commercial exploitation of the block," said Chandra, while declining to mention the investment that would be ploughed in by Reliance. Reliance has chalked out plans to start commercial production well before the end of 2004 and is expecting a peak production of 40 million standard cubic meters per day gas extending over 20 years, official sources said.
Source: IANS
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