RIL to begin gas output from MJ fields

Reliance Industries (RIL) is set to commission the MJ deepwater gas fields in the Krishna-Godavari (KG)-D6 basin during the April-June 2024 quarter, with production from the field aimed at 12mn m³/d during the April 2023-March 2024 fiscal year.

With the commissioning of the MJ fields, gas output from RIL-BP’s KG-D6 block will rise to 30mn m³/d during 2023-24, accounting for 30pc of India’s overall gas production and 15pc of the country’s gas demand. India produced 34bn m³ of natural gas in 2022-23, preliminary oil ministry data show.

Gas output from KG-D6 reached 19mn m³/d during 2022-23, the firm said, adding that it successfully completed auction of 6mn m³/d last month.

RIL’s share of production from its Satellite Cluster and R Cluster gas fields rose to 12.9mn m³/d for 2022-23, up by 11pc from a year earlier, out of a total output of 19mn m³/d. Gas from the KG-D6 basin was sold at an average price of $10.6/mn Btu for 2022-23, with the price up by 115pc from a year earlier and from $4.92/mn Btu in the last fiscal.

The Indian government has marginally lowered the price of gas produced from deepwater, ultra-deepwater and high pressure-high temperature fields to $12.12/mn Btu for April-September 2023 from $12.46/mn Btu during October 2022-March 2023. Prices are on a gross calorific basis.

RIL and BP are together developing three main gas fields in the KG basin, including the MJ deepwater field in the last phase. Production from the R Cluster deepwater fields started in 2020 and from the Satellite Cluster fields in 2021. RIL holds around 67pc stake in the KG-D6 fields, with BP owing the remainder.

RIL said that price volatility in the global natural gas market is likely to continue because of uncertainty in EU demand and increased demand from China with rising economic activity.

RIL’s throughput at its 1.2mn b/d Jamnagar refinery complex rose to 19.8mn t over January-March from 18.8mn t in October-December 2022. Throughput at its refinery normalised following a planned maintenance shutdown in September-October.

RIL saw its production of transportation fuels rise to 11.4mn t during January-March from 10.2mn t in October-December.