Mumbai: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and bp p.l.c., one of the largest international energy companies, have commenced production from the MJ field, marking a major development that could go a long way in meeting India’s growing demand for gas.
The MJ field represents the last of 3 major new deep water developments the RIL-bp consortium have brought into production in block KG D6 off the east coast of India.
The start of gas & condensate production from the MJ field follows the start-up of the R-Cluster field in December 2020 and Satellite Cluster in April 2021.
Together, the three fields are expected to produce around 30 million standard cubic metres of gas a day (1 billion cubic feet a day) when MJ field reaches peak production, RIL said in a statement here.
This is expected to account for around one-third of India’s current domestic gas production and meet approximately 15% of India’s demand, it said.
Discovered in 2013 and sanctioned in 2019, the MJ field is located in water depths of up to 1,200 metres about 30 kilometres from the existing onshore terminal at Gadimoga on the east coast of India.
“Alongside the other KG D6 fields, the MJ development truly supports the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Energy vision’ laid out by the Government of India,” RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said.
“We continue to be proud of our partnership with bp that combines our expertise in commissioning complex projects under some of the most challenging environments in the last few years,” he said.
Chief Executive of bp Bernard Looney said, “By safely bringing these new developments onstream, RIL and bp are making an important contribution to meeting India’s demand for secure supplies of gas.”
Noting that the close strategic partnership between the two companies has become 15 years old, Looney said, “Together, we are helping to meet India’s growing energy needs, bringing the best of each partner to create real value.”
RIL is the operator of the KG D6 block with a 66.67% participating interest and bp holds a 33.33% participating interest.
